First Person with Wayne Shepherd

Wayne Shepherd
  • 4.9 (34)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Once a week 24 minute radio interviews focusing on personal Christian faith stories and spiritual calling. FIRST PERSON is produced by Wayne Shepherd Communications, LLC. 1717 Park St., Suite 300, Naperville, IL 60563. Email: Wayne@wayneshepherd.net

  1. 3d ago

    Jermaine Wilson

    Once a convicted felon, Jermaine Wilson became a Christ-follower through a Prison Fellowship program and now discusses his changed life with Wayne Shepherd.  (click for more…)          Website:  www.prisonfellowship.org/story/the-spiritual-awakening-of-jermaine-wilson/ Jermaine Wilson, now mission ambassador for Prison Fellowship, describes growing up in government housing with a teenage mother and a father who struggled with addiction. He began using drugs at 11 and committed his first crime at 12, seeking the acceptance he lacked at home. He spent four years in juvenile corrections, where he joined a gang, and after release he returned to drugs and crime. That led to a three-year adult prison sentence for narcotics possession, served when his son was eight months old. During that sentence, facing the prospect of his son repeating his path and with family visits suddenly stopping, he joined Prison Fellowship's program, surrendered his life to Jesus, and saw his family restored. After release, the church and Prison Fellowship volunteers gave him and his family food, housing, and jobs. He had his record expunged and later served as mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas. He now shares his story with inmates and lawmakers and urges listeners to volunteer with Prison Fellowship, especially its Angel Tree program, and to extend grace to people who have been incarcerated.                                                              NEXT WEEK:  Brad Willey Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Jermaine Wilson

  2. Sep 24

    Edward Bouvier

    Edward Bouvier who uses woodworking as a spiritual mission, joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation to talk about his joy of working with his hands and teaching others his craft.  (click for more…)                               Website: www.villagewoodwright.com     Edward Bouvier, "The Village Woodwright," started in furniture restoration and moved into teaching after a health crisis in his 30s showed him he wanted his craft to reach people. He now runs classes, mostly for homeschool groups and private schools, in which every tool is hand-powered and students start by splitting a fresh log. They work without rulers or patterns, using classical proportions instead. Bouvier ties his work to his faith, especially the idea of redemption: rescuing discarded wood and furniture, and helping students salvage flawed pieces or burn the rest in the class campfire. He also mentions a former apprentice who is now a blacksmith at Kline Creek Farm, and his lifelong love of the pipe organ, which he is returning to after advice from Wheaton's Harold Best to use music for worship rather than performance. He describes his path as a calling that has taken detours, and says that although mission work rarely pays well, God has always provided and interest in his classes is now growing. Previous interview with Edward Bouvier:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/121603/episodes/1015078-edward-bouvier                                            Next Week:  Jermaine Wilson Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Edward Bouvier

  3. Sep 17

    Fred Gladney

    Executive leadership coach and author Fred Gladney is Wayne Shepherd’s guest to tell his personal story of faith and the biblical principles for business he’s learned.  (click for more…)  Website:  TheDNAofSuccess.com , https://thegladneygroup.com/ Fred Gladney is an executive leadership coach, entrepreneur, and author of The DNA of Success. Gladney describes growing up in a "cultural Christian" household in Pittsburgh, coming to genuine faith in his late twenties after being prayed for at a dinner in California, and being discipled by mentors including Dr. E.V. Hill and Frank Wilson. He reflects on integrating faith with a long corporate career (including leaving a company over ethical issues), and shares his coaching philosophy — that real success requires surrender, that leaders should focus on personal growth and self-awareness rather than assessments and quadrants, and that significance comes from mentoring others and leaving a lasting legacy. The conversation closes with his emphasis on Scripture memorization and mentorship, especially in an age of AI, and a mention of his book and his longtime board service with the Far East Broadcasting Company.                                             NEXT WEEK:  Edward Bouvier Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Fred Gladney

  4. Sep 10

    Cheryl Tinsley

    Cheryl Steele Tinsley, the lone survivor of a wilderness surveying trip gone awry, talks with Wayne Shepherd about her experience.  (click for more)  On July 3, 1980, Cheryl Steele Tinsley and three of her friends were caught in a deadly “freak storm” on Michigan's Lake Huron that meteorologists say only appear once every ten to twelve years.  Her three companions died, but Cheryl miraculously lived. As you listen, Cheryl will recount the story and speak to what she learned about how God speaks to us when we encounter the reality of death. Cheryl can be reached through her webssite, cherylsteeletinsley.com. Cheryl has also written a book detailing the experience titled Wave by Wave, A Memoir of Survival, Faith, and How God Works which can be found here.                                                  NEXT WEEK:  Fred Gladney Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Cheryl Tinsley

  5. Sep 3

    Jeremy Farley

    Country preacher Jeremy Farley, author of Hay Bales and Holy Rollers, joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation about his life and testimony.  (click for more...)    Website:  www.JeremyFarley.com  Jeremy Farley, a pastor from Wytheville, Virginia, and author of the memoir Hay Balers and Holy Rollers. Farley was born to a teenage mother in 1985 after she rejected pressure to have an abortion, and he grew up on his great-grandfather's Virginia farm after being raised partly in West Virginia coal country. His great-grandfather, "the Old Man" (Tom Farley), was a hard, self-made, "black-and-white" man who taught him toughness but dismissed church as being "for weak men." Jeremy had a false conversion as a teen under social pressure at a legalistic Christian school, then genuinely surrendered to Christ in college on October 15, 2004. He describes founding Restoration Church of Wytheville in 2019, which weathered pandemic setbacks (meeting in a cow pasture) before growing into a two-service congregation. The interview's emotional centerpiece is his 2014 hospital-bedside conversation with his dying great-grandfather, where he shared the "Romans Road" gospel passages and learned the old man's own mother had shared the same verses with him as a child before she died — leading the great-grandfather to profess faith in Christ shortly before his death.                                              NEXT WEEK:  Cheryl Tinsley Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Jeremy Farley

  6. Aug 27

    Adam Waters

    Adam Waters is a living testimony that God can rescue and redeem a life headed for self-destruction. He tells his story to Wayne Shepherd.  (click for more)               Website: https://www.gracebiblechurchelmhurst.com Adam Waters shares a powerful testimony of transformation from atheism, rebellion, drug addiction, broken relationships, and imprisonment to faith in Jesus Christ and pastoral ministry. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, Waters rejected Christianity as a teenager and became deeply involved in drugs and alcohol, eventually serving in the military as a highly trained medical corpsman while secretly struggling with addiction. After reaching a desperate point that led him to consider suicide, he confessed his addiction, was discharged, and eventually returned to Chicago, where his addiction worsened and ultimately resulted in prison. While incarcerated, reading the writings of Martin Luther, Calvin, Augustine, and other theologians opened his eyes to his spiritual brokenness, and he experienced a profound conversion to Christianity. After prison, with the support of his parents, mentors, and his wife Elaine, Waters pursued theological education at Moody, sensed a call to ministry, and eventually became lead pastor of Grace Bible Church in Elmhurst, Illinois. Today, he views his suffering and recovery as preparation to speak truth and hope into the lives of others, emphasizing the power of prayer, God's ability to redeem broken lives, and the truth that even the most unlikely people can be transformed and called to serve Him.                                          NEXT WEEK:  Jeremy Farley Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Adam Waters

  7. Aug 20

    Dannah Gresh

    Dannah Gresh, author and founder of the Christian tween ministry True Girl talks with Wayne Shepherd about her passion to help young girls understand and live with “Pure Freedom”.  (click for more…) Website:  https://dannahgresh.com Gresh opens up about grieving the recent loss of a beloved horse and the spiritual lessons she found in that pain, then traces her journey from a childhood dream of being a writer through a period of sexual sin in a relationship as a young Christian woman, and how healing from that shame at 26 became the foundation for a ministry helping girls escape their own "pits of shame." She recounts how a divine prompting to pray for Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth (rather than resent her) led to a lasting friendship, co-authoring Lies Young Women Believe, and eventually renaming her ministry (originally Secret Keeper Girl) as True Girl amid #MeToo-era concerns about secrecy. The conversation covers the ministry's growth — reaching 130 countries and hundreds of thousands of listeners — its focus on empowering parents (especially moms) to guide daughters through cultural pressures like early sexualization and gender confusion, and Gresh's core conviction that regular engagement with Scripture is the most powerful antidote to anxiety, depression, and cultural confusion in kids' lives. The interview closes with a mention of her husband's parallel ministry for boys, Born to Be Brave, and a plug for her new book, Lies Girls Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free.                                             NEXT WEEK:  Adam Waters Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Dannah Gresh

  8. Aug 13

    Rob Elliot

    Wayne Shepherd talks with 93-year-old Rob Elliott, founder of Elliott Construction in the Chicago area about his life’s purpose of representing God in business and supporting missionaries.  (click for more…)     Website:  https://www.elliotconstruction.com Rob shares his life story: being born in England to a Canadian father and English mother, growing up in a Christian home in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and giving his life to Christ as a boy, though it didn't feel "real" until a devastating 1951 car accident that killed a friend and left him in a coma — an event he credits with truly turning his heart toward God and keeping him out of military service in Korea. He recounts starting his concrete business in the early 1950s after a mentor set him up with clients, building it into one of the largest concrete contractors in the Chicago area (still family-run 70+ years later), and using his business as a platform for quiet, consistent Christian witness — praying before meals with coworkers, sharing his testimony at industry events, and mentoring golfing buddies over the years. He closes by reflecting on his large family (5 children, 34 grandchildren, and dozens of great-grandchildren), his enduring faith rooted in Romans 10:9, and his sense that God still has purpose for his life at 93.                                             NEXT WEEK:  Dannah Gresh  Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center  Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020  Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

    Rob Elliot
See All (864)

Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
34 Ratings

About

Once a week 24 minute radio interviews focusing on personal Christian faith stories and spiritual calling. FIRST PERSON is produced by Wayne Shepherd Communications, LLC. 1717 Park St., Suite 300, Naperville, IL 60563. Email: Wayne@wayneshepherd.net

Information

  • Creator
    Wayne Shepherd
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    864
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 First Person with Wayne Shepherd
  • Show Website
    First Person with Wayne Shepherd

You Might Also Like