November 23, 2018 Show with Rev. Bill Shisko on “Developing Regional Home Missionary Work & Radio Ministries” PLUS Margaret Shisko on “The Need for Hospitality in the Homes of Christians”

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio

platform on which pastors, Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues

facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, iron sharpens iron so one

man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we

converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another

wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear

from you, the listeners, with your own questions.

Now here's our host, Chris Arntzen.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the

planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Friday on this day after

Thanksgiving, November 23rd, 2018.

And I'm so delighted to have two people on this program today, one per

hour, whom I love very dearly.

First we're going to have Pastor Bill Shushko, who is director of Reformation Metro New York

and the host of the weekly talk radio show, A Visit to the Pastor's Study.

He's going to be addressing developing regional home missionary work and radio ministries.

And for the second hour, we're going to be discussing with his wife, Margaret Shushko, the need for

hospitality in the homes of Christians.

But it is my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio the day after Thanksgiving, my

friend Bill Shushko.

Hey, Chris.

That's right, they do.

And I happen to be personally, I have firsthand

knowledge of the gift of hospitality that your precious bride has, because I have

stayed in your home and you have given me the open invitation whenever I'm on Long Island to

stay there.

And I really appreciate that more than words can describe, brother.

Well, I will.

Well, it usually has to do with geographic reasons where I have to be at a conference and I

prefer being there like five minutes away, if at all possible.

Yeah, sure.

Well, I want to give our listeners just a little bit more background about you because they may be,

even some of your friends may be unfamiliar with some of your background.

Pastor Bill Shushko professed to be an atheist during the late 1960s counterculture days.

He converted through a Christian radio program while working in radio in 1970.

He gave up full scholarship to go to law school and attended a Christian

college from 1970 -1974 and graduated school 1974

-1976.

He continued to do radio things in college years.

He also met the woman who would become his wife on June 5th, 1976.

Bill Shushko attended Westminster Seminary from 1976 -79, began

hospitality ministries, which Margaret will discuss in the second hour.

His first pastorate was at McClellanville, South Carolina, the Jeremy Creek Reformed Presbyterian Church,

in July 1979 through January of 1981.

He did the first visit to the pastor's study programs on Saturday mornings from a radio station

in North Charleston.

The second pastorate, where I got to know him, was at the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Franklin

Square, Long Island, New York, from February 1981 through June of 2016.

I can't believe it's been two years already that you retired from that ministry.

Pastor Bill did a visit to the pastor's study programs periodically on WMCA, where I was employed for 15

years, and other radio things.

Pastor Bill Shushko became regional home missionary for Presbytery of Connecticut and Southern

New York for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church beginning in

September of 2016.

A visit to the pastor's study is part of his weekly ministry.

First of all, if you could start off with Pastor Bill, how did you get the idea of doing.

This as

a

part

of

your

regional

home

missionary

work?

I'm very

thankful to

God

that

you

have.

Done that, and I'm sure quite a number of your listeners are equally blessed and thankful

to our Lord for that providentially.

How did the Lord provide for you to do this.

In such an expensive radio market, meaning New York and the tri -state area, it is quite

cost prohibitive.

I know that personally, being in the radio industry.

If you could tell us about that.

And

you

simulcast

on

Redeemer

Broadcasting.

Right, exactly

right, Redeemer

Broadcasting,

which I

commend to your

listeners.

Now, what was your format for the first two years of.

A visit to the pastor's study?

Tell us about some of the programs that you had.

Well, as.

My

dear

brother

Chris,

doing

that

Chris,

Geiger

of

Harvest

World

magazine has

been

downloaded

by

children that

were

born.

Yeah, and

one of

my favorite hobbies is stealing your guests and.

Interviewing them.

I wouldn't borrow Chris, we borrow from one another.

But I have had wonderful interviews myself with some of the guests that you've

mentioned, hopefully I'll get around to interviewing all of the same people that you've interviewed.

Rosaria Butterfield obviously stands out as a really precious gift of the

body of Christ.

Quite a fascinating story that she has being a self -professed

leftist and lesbian in the academic realm, a tenured professor, I believe it was

Syracuse University where she was a professor.

And then abandoning all of that and being transformed so vibrantly by the power of Christ.

Yeah, one of my favorite guests that I've borrowed from you is Pastor Lowell Ivey,

a former white supremacist gang member who was saved by the grace and mercy

of Christ in prison.

And I was so blessed to know that he benefited greatly, he told me

he really benefited enormously from reading the publications of

Solid Ground Christian Books, the book ministry founded by a mutual friend of ours, Mike Gaydosh, my very first pastor,

who actually was the pastor who invited you to speak at what was then called Calvary

Baptist Church of Amityville where I met you.

Pastor Ivey is going to be on next Saturday, this is going to be the third interview with Pastor Ivey.

I'm sorry, not next Saturday.

I am confusing it with a visit to the past.

That's right, I am.

Lowell is going to be on this Monday, the 26th of November for the third time

already, and I am assuming, I am hoping that he'll be on many times more after that,.

But quite a fascinating brother.

Yeah, well like you.

I've got to get him on the program of Iron Truckman's Iron.

That sounds fascinating.

As you know, church discipline is something near and dear to my heart because I believe it saved my own life

when I never reached the point of excommunication, but I would have if I had not followed

the steps required of my elders at Grace Reform Baptist

Church of Long Island to be restored to fellowship.

You were with me through thick and thin during that period of time and I will appreciate that for the rest of my life

more than I can possibly describe to you.

I still remember a classic thing that you said to me that could best be said by a Presbyterian, I

think, when you came to pick me up in my hotel room and you saw the wine that I was

drinking.

You were not only upset that I had returned to drinking, being an alcoholic before I was saved, you said, it's not

just that you're drinking excessively and sinning and drunkenness,.

But

you're

drinking

bad wine.

But if

I didn't,

that really

impacted

the churches are

meant to be.

Praise God.

We're going to our first station break right now and if you would like to join us on the air with a question for Pastor

Bill Shishko of Reformation Metro New York and a visit to the pastor's study, our email address is

chrisarnsen at gmail

.com.

Please give us at least your first name, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the USA.

Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter and I could readily understand having

a pastor as a guest or at least a retired pastor who is.

Still involved in ministry.

Don't say I'm retired.

I'm a false witness against your neighbor.

I think I said retired from the pastoral ministry.

Is that accurate?

Yeah, that's, well, yes and no.

Yeah, right.

Well, I'm doing pastoral ministry in a little different way.

Well, I'm retired from the pastoral ministry at the Orthodox Presbyterian.

There you go.

Okay, that's okay.

But I could readily see somebody wanting to ask a personal and private question and remain anonymous.

But if other than that, please give us your first name, city and state and country of residence.

Don't go away.

God willing, we'll be right back with Pastor Bill Shishko of Reformation Metro New York and a

visit to the pastor's study.

Chris Arnsen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, announcing a new website with an exciting offer from World

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Hi, Phil Johnson here.

I'm executive director of John MacArthur's media ministry, Grace to You, and I'm also an occasional guest

on Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio.

So I'm delighted that my friend Chris Arnzen and I will be heading down to Atlanta for the G3

conference, where I'll be joining James White, Steve Lawson, Vodie Baucom, Mark Dever,

Conrad Mbewe, Todd Friel, Josh Bice, and a host of other speakers to address the

topic of biblical understanding of missions.

Chris Arnzen and I hope to see you all at this very important conference from January 17th

through the 19th.

Make sure you stop by the Iron Sharpen's Iron exhibitors booth to say hi to Chris.

For more details, go to g3conference .com.

That's g3conference .com.

See you there.

Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio here.

I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years.

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If you want to learn more about our program, visit us online at irbsseminary .org.

James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

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My name is Steve Lawson,.

Founder and president of One Passion Ministries, as well as teaching fellow for Ligonier Ministries.

I serve as professor of preaching and oversee the Doctor of Ministry program at the Master's Seminary in Los Angeles.

I would like to recommend the church where one of my preaching students, Andy Woodard, serves as the pastor.

It's called New Covenant Church, NYC.

They are a Reformed Baptist church that meets in Midtown Manhattan.

You can find their service times and location on their website, which is www

.ncc .nyc.

They believe in a sovereign God who commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel.

If you're looking for a church that believes in expository preaching, which is simply biblical preaching,

in New York City, I'd like to recommend that you visit New Covenant Church, NYC.

Again, their information can be found at www .ncc .nyc.

Have a great day.

Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnzen.

If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the first hour with about a little less than a half hour to go is

Pastor Bill Shishko of the Reformation Metro, New York, and also

host of the weekly radio broadcast, A Visit to the Pastor Study.

If you'd like to join us, we are discussing developing regional home missionary work in radio ministries, and our number

is 631 -291 -7002.

631 -291 -7002.

Before I go to some more questions of my own, I just wanted to get a couple of our listeners' questions

covered.

We have Bobby in Hartsdale, New York, who asks, it's

so difficult to get unknown men of God that truly have a voice

and a gift that should be known globally on major radio and television

networks.

How do you stick in there and convince people to help support financially what you're doing?

Because it has been very difficult for me, not that I am trying to get myself on the air, but I'm trying to get other local

pastors that are so powerful and so gifted that they should be known in.

Households

all

over

this country

and

abroad.

And I

could

also

chime

in

from

my

own

experience.

Working in radio since the 1980s.

I have successfully created two radio programs.

Neither are on the air right now, the ones I'm speaking of, that is.

But if you can find enough congregations who

are willing to chip in financially to get a radio program launched that

expresses and declares and defends and teaches the same doctrine that all of

these congregations would have a passion for, you could even do a search nationwide for

congregations in your own denomination or fellowship that may want to contribute to airing a

program.

You may remember because you were a part of it, I created in the 1990s the Voice of Sovereign

Grace.

And I got that on the air by getting many congregations involved.

And we had at one time five churches that actually hosted the program, including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of

Franklin Square.

Well, I'll very quickly get it out of the way.

We do have, let's see here, Susan Margaret in Dauphin County,

Pennsylvania.

And she says, I do not mean this as a criticism to either you, Chris, or your guests,

but there are churches that use radio and television as a substitute for membership and

attendance at a local Bible -believing church.

What words of loving.

Criticism can you offer to

those who are doing

that?

Well, I

appreciate

that question.

Susan Margaret,

let's move on

to some changes that are

taking

place with a

visit

to the pastor

study.

Yeah, it

fits

really

with

your...

By

the

way, I'm

delighted

that

you

are

working

on

a mission

church.

In the North Babylon, Deer Park, Long Island area, because I am unaware of any

reformed works in those areas.

And this will be a joy to have that added to Long Island, if indeed the

Lord is pleased to bring that to fruition.

Well,

what's amazing

is that

in Deer Park area,

there...

Well, definitely.

Keep me updated on that, because we want to have you back and anyone else who might be involved

in leadership, if that North Babylon, Deer Park area congregation takes off.

My dear brother, we've been working together for a long time.

I mean, me neither, and an encouraging word to hear.

What kinds of questions do you get from listeners on the visit to the pastor study?

This,

Chris,

and

then

I'll

have

another

one

that

we

really...

There

will

be

opposition.

We do have Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, who says,

can you please comment on the two rather disturbing trends I see amongst our fellow Reformed

brethren?

One seems to be a growing phenomenon that involves ecumenism with Rome

and neglecting the seriousness of the chasm of difference we have in the gospel

itself.

And the other one is involving a hyper -covenantal understanding

of baptism that would say that anyone who is baptized in the name of the Father and

Son and the Holy Ghost should be identified as a true regenerate Christian.

Is.

Well, finally, I want to know if you are planning on continuing the health

program that was attached to the visit to the pastor study, known as HealthWise.

No, we're not.

We're actually doing the last program.

Now you're going to want your time.

Of course, because I want as many of the Iron Sherpins Iron Radio listeners to become a part of your audience if they haven't already.

I already know that many are because they report back to me how much they enjoy your show.

Yes, you did.

And I am so delighted that you came on today.

I'm looking forward to many future visits from you.

And I'm also very much looking forward to my very first interview with your precious bride, Margaret,

in the second hour.

You'll be blessed by it.

And I'm sure you have.

And thank you very much, brother.

And we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks, Chris.

The Lord's blessing, my brother.

Press on in the good work.

Thank you, brother.

So long now.

Don't go away, folks.

Because as I just said, Pastor Bill Shishko's wife, Margaret Shishko, is going to be joining us in just

about 12 minutes or so.

She is going to be talking about the necessity of hospitality in the homes of Christians.

If you'd like to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

Chrisarnsen at gmail .com if you have a question for Margaret about hospitality.

And please also, during this long station break that we have, which is required by Grace Life

Radio, 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida, so that they can air their own commercials and public service announcements,

please use this time not only to write questions for Margaret Shishko on hospitality, but use this time to write down the

information provided by our advertisers so that you can more frequently and successfully patronize them.

We depend upon the advertising dollars of our sponsors to exist.

So the more frequently and successfully that you patronize them, the more likely they are going to remain our

advertisers, which means the more likely we will remain on the air.

And if that is a concern for you, if you want us to remain on the air, please patronize our advertisers as much as possible.

Don't go away.

We'll be right back, God willing, with Margaret Shishko.

Tired of box store Christianity, of doing church in a warehouse with all the trappings of a rock concert?

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And this loving congregation looks forward to meeting you.

Call them at 631 -929 -3512 for service times.

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My name is Steve Lawson, founder and president of One Passion Ministries, as well as teaching fellow for Ligonier

Ministries.

I serve as professor of preaching and oversee the doctor of ministry program at the Master's Seminary in Los Angeles.

I would like to recommend the church where one of my preaching students, Andy Woodard, serves as the pastor.

It's called New Covenant Church, NYC.

They are a reformed Baptist church that meets in midtown Manhattan.

You can find their service times and location on their website, which is www

.ncc .nyc.

They believe in a sovereign God who commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel.

If you're looking for a church that believes in expository preaching, which is simply biblical preaching,

in New York City, I'd like to recommend that you visit New Covenant Church, NYC.

Again, their information can be found at www .ncc .nyc.

Have a great day.

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Hello, my name is James Renahan, and I'm the president of IRVS Theological Seminary in Mansfield, Texas.

The Word of God says, if a man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good thing.

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I hope to hear from you soon.

God bless you.

James White here, co -founder of Alpha Omega Ministries and occasional guest on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

I'm so delighted.

My friend Chris Arnzen will be heading down to Atlanta for the next G3 conference from January 17th

to the 19th, 2019, where I'll be joining a very impressive lineup of speakers on the theme, A Biblical

Understanding of Missions.

Speakers include John Piper, Steve Lawson, Vody Baucom, Mark Dever, Conrad Mbewe,

Phil Johnson, Josh Bice, yours truly, and many more.

I hope you all join Chris and me for this phenomenal event.

For more details, go to g3conference .com.

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Hello, I'm Dr. Gary Kimbrell, senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Laurel, Mississippi.

And I'm hoping that many of you who listen to Chris Arnzen's Iron Sharpens Iron Radio program will join Chris

and me at the Deep South Founders Conference Thursday, January 24th through Saturday,

January 26th here in Laurel.

If you love God's word and love to hear it powerfully preached, I can assure you that you will not be

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Our speakers at the Deep South Founders Conference this year include Rusty Reed, Gerald Henderson, Jason

Goodwin, Bobby Crenshaw, and our keynote speaker all the way from Zambia, Dr. Conrad

Mbewe, who has received the nickname the Spurgeon of Africa.

And I, for one, believe it's a very accurate description of Brother Conrad.

For more details, go to deepsouthfounders .com.

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I look forward to giving a big Mississippi welcome to many Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners,

January 24th through January 26th.

Thank you.

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Welcome back.

We are going to be joining in a moment our second guest for the day, Margaret Shishko, who

happens to be the wife of our first guest, Reverend Bill Shishko, and Margaret is going to be speaking on the

need for hospitality in the homes of Christians.

But before we go to Margaret, we just have a few announcements about some upcoming events that we hope that you will

attend, all of you or as many of you as possible in the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience.

I will be at all of these events, God willing, and I hope to meet you there.

First of all, this first invitation is only for the men in the audience, men in

leadership in your congregations or parachurch ministries, whether you be a pastor,

elder, deacon, or a parachurch ministry leader.

I'm having my next Iron Sharpens Iron Radio pastor's luncheon, God willing, on

Thursday, January 3rd from 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at the Carlisle Fire and Rescue

Banquet Hall in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

My guest speaker will be Dr. Tony Costa, professor of apologetics and Islam at

Toronto Baptist Seminary.

The theme will be announced shortly.

This is absolutely free of charge.

You'll be fed a delicious food and you'll be fed spiritually with an excellent message, I'm sure,

by Dr. Tony Costa.

And every man in attendance is going to be leaving there with one or two heavy sacks of

brand new books that have been donated, as they are every year, by the majority of

major Christian publishers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

So I'm talking about each man is likely to be leaving with at least 30 books, and I'm talking brand new books.

So if you'd like to attend this Iron Sharpens Iron Radio pastor's luncheon here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, send me an email

to chrisarnson at gmail .com chrisarnson at gmail .com and put pastor's luncheon in

the subject line.

Then, immediately following that from Friday through Sunday, that's Friday, January 4th through

Sunday, January 6th, Dr. Tony Costa, who I just mentioned from Toronto Baptist Seminary, he will be

conducting a conference at the Enola First Church of God in Enola, Pennsylvania, where my dear

friend Pastor George Jensen is the pastor.

The theme of this three -day conference is going to be The Most Dangerous Threats

to the Christian Church in North America.

And this is also a free conference.

If you'd like to register or we want more information, you can send me an email again to chrisarnson at gmail

.com chrisarnson at gmail .com and put Tony Costa

conference in the subject line or Enola, Pennsylvania conference in the subject line.

You could also, if you want directions and other information about how to get to the Enola First Church of God,

you can go to enolacog .com that's e -n -o -l -a -c

-o -g which stands for enolachurchofgod .com or you can call them

at 717 -732 -4253 717 -732 -4253.

Then, coming up in January, I am so thrilled to be once again attending and

manning an exhibitor's booth at the G3 conference in Atlanta, Georgia,

more specifically College Park, Georgia.

It's going to be held once again at the Georgia International Convention Center there and they are expecting

between 4 ,000 and 5 ,000 people.

The speakers include John Piper, James White, Stephen Lawson, Votie Baucom, Mark Dever,

Conrad Mbewe, Tim Challies, Phil Johnson, Todd Friel of Wretched TV and

Wretched Radio, Stephen J. Nichols, the president of Reformation Bible College, the college founded by R .C. Sproul

and Ligonier Ministries, and many more are going to be speaking on that roster.

If you'd like to attend along with me, go to g3conference .com g3conference .com.

The theme this January is The Mission of God, A Biblical Understanding of Missions.

I strongly urge you to not only to register to attend but also register for an exhibitor's booth if you have

a business, professional practice, parachurch organization,

church, special event, or anything else that you want to promote in a crowd of between 4 ,000 and 5 ,000 people.

Go to g3conference .com.

G3conference .com.

That stands for, by the way, Gospel Grace and Glory if you're wondering what G3 means.

And then finally, also in January, I am so happy that I will be for

the very first time in my life, God willing, in the state of Mississippi.

I'm going to be attending and manning an exhibitor's booth at the Deep South Founders Conference

that will be held, God willing, from January 24th through the 26th at the Bethlehem Baptist

Church in Laurel, Mississippi.

The speakers include Rusty Reed, Gerald Henderson, Jason Goodwin,

Bobby Crenshaw, and my dear friend Dr. Conrad M. Bayway, who I believe is the most powerful preacher alive

on the planet Earth.

He is the pastor of Kibwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, and Chancellor of

African Christian University.

The theme is going to be sanctification.

So if you want to join me January 24th through the 26th in Laurel, Mississippi at the Deep South Founders Conference, go to

deepsouthfounders .com deepsouthfounders .com.

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Near them that are faithful to the scriptures.

That's also the email address where you can send an email to Margaret Shishko in hospitality.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com.

And it's my honor to welcome you for the very first time as a guest on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Margaret Shishko.

Thank you for having me, Chris.

How are you?

I'm doing better than I deserve, as always.

Oh, good. Praise God.

Well, I'm going to repeat our email address if any of our listeners have a question on hospitality.

They want to ask Margaret Shishko, who will be with us until 6 p .m., God willing.

Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

Please give us your first name, city and state, and country of residence if you live outside the U .S .A. and only remain anonymous if your question

involves a personal and private matter.

Margaret, when you think of hospitality in the Shishko household, what has it looked

like for your 42 1⁄2 years of marriage?

That's a very long time, so I guess the Lord must have known that he was

preparing us to be hospitable.

I was a home economics major.

That doesn't mean I was one that was outgoing.

And of course, my husband has made up for that.

He's very outgoing.

But the Lord did seem to catapult us into hospitality before

he actually was ordained as a minister.

We lived with an older man and took care of his home while Bill was in

seminary in exchange for rent.

So we did the shopping, the menus, the cooking.

Bill did the yard work.

And we were both able to, along with Bill, work part -time, each one of us.

So we lived near the seminary.

His wife had just passed away, but he would go away for the winter.

So we had four months there at the house where we could have people and anyone in that we would

like.

Here, I'm a first time in the North.

My husband is inviting seminary professors over.

So it was a little daunting for me, a little intimidating.

But I know the Lord loves to take us out of our comfort zone so we can be more useful.

And I really thank God for those opportunities and even pushing me

from where, you know, cooking for a family is one thing, but cooking for others,

and that's not all there is to hospitality.

Well, Bill shared with me that there was something that you were doing ahead of

the time, if you will, something that was not a commonplace thing that may have

been frowned upon by your average citizen in the Southern United States, but you were

inviting folks of color into your home.

And that was in some way a risky move, but something I believe we are

compelled as Christians to invite people into our homes and be hospitable and gracious to them,

especially perhaps if they are not like us and not amongst our close circle of friends.

Well, that's true.

Bill has always reached out to foreigners and

especially the 18 months that we were in the South, a man there who,

he had some learning disabilities, I think, but he was very genuine.

And we would have him over to the house and Bill would present the gospel to him.

And it is, the village that we lived in was very much

the antebellum South.

So we, sorry about that.

That's live radio for you, don't worry.

Yes, that's my husband calling.

I told him I couldn't get through, so now he's following up on it.

But so we did, we would have, and I grew up in the

South, in the Southeast.

I don't remember there ever being African -American students.

Now, by the time I was in high school,

climate had been changing for quite a

while.

My children grew up going to a Christian school that had many, many different

ethnicities.

So thankful for that.

They didn't take notice of the fact, or like cousins

to them.

We would have them in the home, you know, on occasion.

How a newborn baby is.

I'll give a demonstration then, come on over.

And we did.

And in the Lord's youth, you know, those kind of opportunities to continue

to make me want to reach out to all.

The thing I love about New York is the diversity.

Amen, yes.

Did you feel inadequate at periods of your life to be someone who is welcoming

people into your home?

I think that when I have had conversations with Christians about this very subject,

the biggest excuse or the most frequently repeated excuse that I hear from people who never

open their doors to either brethren in Christ, or even to

strangers in the neighborhood that they want to get to know, is that they say, I don't have the gift for

hospitality.

I don't know if that's an acceptable excuse or not.

But did you feel inadequate?

Well, I felt very inadequate.

I, I've just, I think perfectionism is what people think of, like everything has to

be perfect to sell a home.

But that's a misconception.

I actually had to learn to look at it from a different perspective and look at

it from the eyes of stewardship.

How many things can you juggle in a week?

And no, I can't have a perfectly clean house, but I can have an adequately cleaned house.

And, and it was, I've been embarrassed before because I wasn't even

up to a standard that I felt may have been adequate, but I learned to balance

things out, trying to take care of the family and their children and their

needs, but teaching them also.

We, the Lord said, in as much as you've done it unto one of these, you've done it unto Christ.

And we want to serve Christ this way, cook things that I

could cook ahead and free,

sign on the door of the bathroom that's on the main floor, use the, use the other

bathroom, not this one, not now anyway, just a little thing so that I

could do it ahead of time.

And, you know, if the bathroom and the kitchen and the dining room are clean, we're good to go.

There's always going to be some clutter somewhere because our house is

lived in and it's a workplace.

So anytime you work, you can make a mess.

That's right.

What was most difficult for you, opening up your home and creating a ministry of

hospitality?

Well, there were two things I found the most challenging was trying to have people back on Sundays.

And Bill really loved to invite anyone who was visiting, didn't have a place to go.

And, you know, most of the time we were able to do that.

But when we had our large family, I did have to take some time out,

maybe about six, plan better again.

And you're not on call as much as you are with a newborn.

Then I began looking forward to it again.

The Lord knew I needed, it was good for us in so many ways.

I grew up being extremely shy, which now I'm not.

And I really just feel like the Lord delivered me from that through opening our home.

This is who we are.

I don't really have anything to hide.

I may not feel adequate, but so many people don't.

So I find if I'm comfortable with them coming in, they're comfortable

being there.

And praise God, none of my children grew up being shy because they were around people a lot

and in their home.

And the Lord has blessed them tremendously.

The experiences that they've had and meeting people from

all different countries, especially from our New York area.

My son once said to me, well, they had any

black children in the church?

He said, I don't think so.

Well, the week before we had had an African -American little boy stay with us.

And he just doesn't think of him in those terms.

You know, he thinks of him as one of his great friends.

Those were things that rejoiced my soul.

Amen.

In fact, you just reminded me of something.

I don't know if you're familiar with the Timothy Hill Children's Ranch in Riverhead, Long Island.

Yes, I've heard of it.

Yes.

Well, that's a ministry that I have contributed to for many years.

And in fact, that was their very first volunteer of the year when they began having an annual volunteer of the year award.

But that ministry began because a little boy who was

just short of 12 named Timothy Hill was so impressed by his

parents taking in foster children.

Oh, wow.

Many of them, if not most, were African -American children and

some from very horrific backgrounds, children of prison inmates or victims of

abuse or what have you.

And Timothy is a young boy said, I want to start a home for homeless

children and I want to have it on a ranch where they can work with farm animals and ride horses because

one of Timothy's great loves, even as a little boy, was riding horses.

And he purchased his own Appalachian horse, Appaloosa, I'm sorry, Appaloosa

horse through money he raised from a paper route.

But he was actually going from a real estate agency to real estate agency

out in Riverhead asking real estate agents for prices on land out there.

And they began calling Timothy's parents, Jerry and Fern, saying, do you know your 12 -year -old son is

asking about property and so on?

That is wonderful. I love it.

But that young boy tragically was killed riding his bicycle to school.

He was hit by a truck.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, this was back in the 70s and might have been late 60s.

And Jerry and Fern said, we know that we have to make Timothy's dream come true.

And that's how the Timothy Hill Children's Ranch started.

In fact, they had fundraisers.

And one of the people that reached out to help them raise money was Lorne Green, the actor who starred in Bonanza, who used to live out in Eastern

Suffolk.

Oh, well, that's wonderful.

But one of the things that is most intimidating, I believe, for

Christians, as far as opening up their home, especially to strangers or acquaintances

that they don't know very well, is welcoming non -Christians into their home.

And I don't know how close you've gotten to Rosaria Butterfield, but I know, Bill, your husband and I have a mutual

friendship with her.

And as you know, she was saved because of the hospitality of a Presbyterian pastor and his wife

welcoming this anti -Christian active lesbian into their home for dinner, and the Lord

used it eventually to save her.

Isn't that wonderful?

Yeah.

So tell us about that, inviting non -Christians and people from other cultures into your home.

Well, most of our hospitality has been

church -related.

And those that are inquiring, a lot of it is,

you know, more comfortable.

But we are determined in having our neighbors in,

and we have nothing to be ashamed of.

He says he's greater than he that is in the world.

He came into the world to...

We have, before

he

ascended, said,

all authority and preached the

gospel and baptized,

overcoming fear.

Fear is a very cruel master, very debilitating.

I'm so thankful that on many occasions,

a lot to do today, but I know these people are coming.

I want it to be an enjoyable time.

And yes, we want to reach out to the unbeliever.

And we had one occasion, we've never had foster children in because,

well, but we did have...

Off the topic, you needed help.

Bill, not totally,

and they needed help,

came again to get his hearing aids, and

he actually was able to get a cochlear implant.

So he ended up staying and living with us.

More of a challenge because I do think that's the

Bill on occasions, although they

both are, but as he lived with us, I really did.

And a privilege.

It does tax you.

So I have a great and deep admiration for

parenting.

I think that to be

undefiled and bring

these

children

into

your home and minister them.

Amen.

And we have to go to our final break.

If anybody would like to join us with a question for Margaret Shishko, do it now or forever.

Hold your peace because we're rapidly running out of time.

It's chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Don't go away.

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We are now back with our final 10 minutes of interview with Margaret Shishko, and we are

talking about hospitality.

And we do have an anonymous listener on the line who says, Margaret, I

am an older woman who's exhausted very easily.

I also have a very tiny home and don't feel comfortable or even have the ability to invite

a larger group of people inside my home.

Do you have any alternatives that you could recommend and how we could use a gift of hospitality that doesn't

require us having people inside our house?

Thanks, Chris.

I think that's a very legitimate question.

I was with a group of women a couple Saturdays ago, and we were talking about hospitality

for people who have very small, you know, even

disabilities or, you know, fatigue issues.

And sometimes the way to address that is in the church

itself, when the church has a luncheon, just cooking

for that, that is a means of hospitality.

And instead of sitting with people that you've known all your life, you know, look for those

that are new in the church and single them out and say, I'd love to sit with you and let me get to know you.

You know, bringing that.

Another thing that was suggested at that meeting was meeting someone, even for Starbucks,

you know, meeting for coffee.

That's hospitality too.

And also they said when people, families who have children and have

small places, they can actually each pack a lunch and bring it to the park.

And while the kids are playing,

happy.

But I thought those were very valid.

Right.

And in regard to the size of her home, she can invite one person.

Right.

And sometimes that's wonderful.

One -on -one conversations are usually, you can have more in depth

and you can read scripture together and pray together.

I find that.

Let's see, we have Arnie in Perry County, Pennsylvania, who asks, do you think that

sometimes people do not invite others into their home because there is a

pride issue of wanting their homes to be in the state of meticulousness

and immaculateness of a museum and they are more concerned about what others are

going to think about the cleanliness and orderliness of their home than they are about actually being

gracious and hospitable to others?

I definitely think that was part of my difficulty.

You know, we lived in a church taken

care of properly and, you know, here's a cobweb and what are they going to think?

Well, you know, I think stewardship is the way the Lord has helped me to

overcome that.

And yes, I like to clean the whole house, but if it's, if I'm

having people in for me, I do the main

floor.

I'm not giving an open house.

It's not, and I think, you know, I learned a lot from my own

sister.

She had just had a, and the place was kind of disheveled and, you

know, it wasn't terrible, but, and somebody just dropped in and she just invited them

in so warmly.

And I'm like, you know, this is some picture that I need to take in.

And, you know, Bill and I finally got to the point where we'd say, if people drop in, they take us as we are.

If we invite them, yes, certain things will be done because we'll plan and

make sure that it happens, but that doesn't mean perfection.

For one thing, there is no thing as perfection.

Only Christ is perfect.

You know, He, as a God -man

with, and also with

His, you know, that's, that's remarkable.

We really, we want to become less self -conscious and more Christ

-focused.

Amen.

I want you now to.

Spend a few minutes uninterrupted to just summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our

listeners today and perhaps even give some more practical advice.

Okay.

I have some practical things that I jotted down before you.

I think that, you know, do as much cleaning and cooking ahead of time as

you can.

Make it as simple as you can.

You can repeat these meals over and over.

And you can also, if people ask to bring something, let them bring it.

It's wonderful.

They're contributing to the hospitality that way.

Also, the cleanup,

that is, can be pretty quick and pretty extreme.

Usually when you have families over with children, it makes a mess, but it's a good mess to have.

And then when you get a few minutes of quiet, evaluate how

things went and what could you change?

What could make it more reasonable for you?

Now, my husband has been helping me more with the cooking, so I...

I noticed that when I visited your house and spent at least one night there.

He was...

Anytime, Chris.

You're always welcome.

I appreciate that.

Just let us know when you need a place in Long Island.

Yes.

And he does methodically what we plan.

And that's the biggest...

That is extremely important.

You can't do these things.

Well, some people can.

I'm not able to do it.

I can do things for my kids on the spur of the moment because I know what they like.

But I also want to know if people have allergies.

I think that

God saves us by his hospitality.

It's just...

We're enemies and strangers to him.

Christ came and we come to Christ, and he's the door to God.

I love it that we're no longer aliens.

We also put a plug in for...

And because that's where Rosaria Butterfield comes with a house key.

And I want...

I love the book.

I want to thank her for putting this in the book.

If you can't, you may not be able to do it.

You can do it with whatever God...

And we want to be faithful stewards.

We don't want to be at the last day saying, God blessed us with all this, all this.

God opened it up in you.

And if we have a meager means, hear the Lord say,

we can only do that in Christ.

Christ is really...

He is our perfection.

And in him, he takes up our work.

Amen.

And wouldn't you agree that women or even men, for that matter, shouldn't be

overly hung up on preparing some spectacular gourmet spread?

Unless, of course, that is your gift.

My wife had that gift and used to love to do that, my precious late wife, Julie.

But if you get too hung up on it, people are going to be more happy and

joyful that they were invited, even if it's just to have burgers and hot dogs,

then not be invited at all because you are worried about what you're going to serve.

Yes.

And you know, I make a lot more use of paper.

Products and things.

Early on, I didn't think we could afford them because you're on such a tight budget.

But now we can because, you know, things change.

We don't have all the children at home.

And that's a tremendous help.

I mean, I use them pretty consistently,

unless it's a seminary professor.

I have a hard time putting on a lot of paper, or unless we're eating something that has to be

cut.

You know, I hate to cut through a paper plate.

But I think each of us know kind of what we're most comfortable with.

But I've become more comfortable with.

Making things streamlined.

Amen.

And by the way, I have another plug.

In fact, I'll even see if I could get you a copy of it.

But I have a very dear friend that I've known since the 1990s, Dr. Latane C. Scott.

And she wrote a book called The Heart's Door, Hospitality in the Bible.

Wow, that's wonderful.

Yeah, and I will try to get you a copy of that.

In fact, if anybody wants to hear that interview with Latane that I did some time ago, you can go to www

.IronTroopensIronRadio .com and type in L -A -T -A -Y -N -E

in the search engine in the past programs, past shows podcast section, and you will be able

to find that interview.

I think that'd be great.

I'd love that.

And anytime you need a place, Chris, just let us know.

Bill's my secretary, so you have to go.

Well, I want to make sure our listeners remember that they can get a hold of Bill Shishko, which would then lead to you being able to

get a hold of Margaret.

That's right.

If you go to ReformationNY .org, I'm sorry,

ReformationMetroNY .org, ReformationMetroNY .org,

and if you have any further questions for Margaret or you'd like to get in contact with her, perhaps you'd like to invite her to speak at

a conference at your church or ladies' meeting.

That would be the best way to do it, unless you have another way that.

You'd like to announce.

No, that really would be the best way.

That way Bill and I can do something.

Well, I really appreciate you coming on, Margaret.

I look forward to seeing you face -to -face in the near future, God willing.

Good.

And I hope you and Bill have a blessed weekend.

And, by the way, if you could hold on, I'd like to say a proper goodbye to you before we go.

Sure, absolutely.

I want to thank everybody who listened today, especially those who took the time to write in.

I hope you all have a safe, blessed, and joyful weekend and Lord's Day, and I hope you all always remember for the rest

of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than you are a sinner.

Amen.