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Candid conversations for the church. Host is Ardin Beech of Windsor District Baptist Church, Sydney, Australia. Co-hosted by Jonathan Hoffman.
Here we are once again this week at Windsor, doctor Jay and Arden Beach with you for another episode.
Jonathan:How are you doing, Ardin?
Ardin:Pretty good.
Jonathan:Back for another week.
Ardin:Back for another week. We're on fire.
Jonathan:We are. Katie's been doing a great job booking the guest, hasn't she?
Ardin:To be fair, she does most of the work.
Jonathan:Yes. The pre and the post.
Ardin:We just sit here and talk.
Jonathan:Yeah. That's
Ardin:right. She does all the hard stuff.
Jonathan:We're the filler in the sandwich. Yeah.
Ardin:And an awesome guest coming up later.
Jonathan:Yeah. Hilton Edwards, CEO of Bible League.
Ardin:Indeed. Yeah. He's gonna be good.
Jonathan:Yeah. I think he's
Jonathan:gonna be good.
Jonathan:I think he's gonna be great. Mhmm.
Ardin:What's on the way for church?
Jonathan:Well, we're very excited because coming up is Big Step Sunday.
Ardin:Never heard of it.
Jonathan:Well, you should have, you clearly don't read the newsletter.
Ardin:I did not. I wait for the podcast. Okay.
Jonathan:Well, big step Sunday is a, is something that we're doing this year and it, you know, we'll see if it takes hold. We're really looking to mark transition, for people, particularly for our younger people. You know, we think about we have a lot of young toddlers entering our kids ministry programs on Sundays. We got some who were, you know, sort of in that infant's age moving into primary school, primary school moving into anchored youth, and then, you know, people moving out of anchored youth. So big step Sunday is sort of a way to mark that transition.
Jonathan:It's also an opportunity to invite people, particularly our kids and their parents to, consider making a decision for Christ. And I think that's really gonna fit in well with the guests that we have today because Hilton, I know, has a fantastic story about how God got a hold of his life. But yeah. But this Sunday is big step Sunday and so we're really just asking people to be praying and, particularly for our young ones who are considering how they stand with Christ and and whether they are, ready to, you know, make a decision to follow him.
Ardin:Yeah. Cool. And we've also got the AGM on the way?
Jonathan:AGM is on the way. 17th November. So reports should be coming out soon. The magnificent Janelle Keyes is doing a great job putting those together. Many thanks to our ministry leaders and staff who've been also working hard to get those reports.
Jonathan:Yeah. Get those reports turned in and assembled. And I'm gonna ask you after the AGM, which was your favorite report to read?
Ardin:I'll, answer it with favorite report and also favorite snack provided.
Jonathan:Okay. Alright. Do you have special requests for AGM Snacks?
Ardin:Oh, you know, I'm actually I've become a fan of the Costco chocolate cake. Okay. Amazing. Alright. Those Americans, they know cake.
Jonathan:Sugar and carbs, baby, all the way.
Ardin:Who would have thunk it?
Jonathan:It's the red, white, blue. Red, white, and blue, and chocolate.
Ardin:They get it done. But, yeah, Costco cake. Incredible.
Jonathan:Okay. Well, we might, maybe just free you.
Ardin:And you can feed, like, 5,000 people with one of those.
Jonathan:True. I feel like I let you down with the meatballs. You helped me move.
Ardin:Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.
Jonathan:Yeah. So well, anyway, I'm still carrying the guilt for it.
Ardin:Caleb helped us also on the day. Did did he receive meatballs?
Jonathan:You talking about Caleb Malcolm?
Ardin:Caleb Malcolm. Oh. The one and only.
Jonathan:The one and only. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Ardin:He's an attractive man. He is. I think he's getting married soon.
Jonathan:I think he is too. Oh, yeah. I don't know. You act like someone who's missing out.
Ardin:I'm amazed you could keep it to one wife with those looks, to be honest. You know?
Jonathan:Just be grateful we live in these times. Now, well, Caleb was a great help. He, he helped famously move a trampoline literally down the street. So we got some great video of people walking down, walking a trampoline down the street. But, yeah, back to, you know, we digress.
Jonathan:Back to the subject of the meeting, we will do our best to bring some good snacks. Awesome. We wanna make it a fun time.
Ardin:Alright. Enough of all that church news stuff. Time for this this week's guest.
Jonathan:Hilton Edwards.
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. Thanks for having me here. It's awesome.
Jonathan:Yeah. Hilton, is the CEO of the Bible league. Is it the Bible league or just Bible league?
Hilton Edwards:Just Bible League.
Jonathan:Oh, I like it. Bible League. Alright. CEO It's
Ardin:too hip and cool for the.
Ardin:I mean, that sounds King James' ish. That's true.
Jonathan:It's it's, so Hilton Arden, just to give you some context, I know you research all our guests very thoroughly.
Ardin:Indeed. Just to go on through the folio.
Jonathan:Yes. You have. Wow.
Ardin:Yeah.
Jonathan:I see it there on your desk. But just to just to give you some context, I had the great privilege of meeting Hilton at a bible league breakfast that they sponsored for pastors, and ministry leaders in the area. And I was just really impressed with the story. So Hilton kindly afterwards agreed to be a guest on This Week at Windsor. So we're so glad that you're here.
Jonathan:Welcome.
Hilton Edwards:Hey. I'm glad to be here as well. Thank you for having me.
Jonathan:And your offices aren't too far from here. Is that right?
Hilton Edwards:No. They're
Hilton Edwards:not. But I didn't come from the office today. So
Hilton Edwards:Oh, okay. Hence, why I was a bit late.
Jonathan:Where were you in your travels today?
Hilton Edwards:I was in the city. So Okay. It was a lot longer trek back. It would have been quick from the office.
Jonathan:Now just so people don't confuse your organization with something like the Bible Society. As if As if that would happen. Can you give us a little bit of context about what Bible league does and where you guys sit in the ministry landscape, the the sort of the parachurch ministry landscape?
Hilton Edwards:So, I mean, I think, you know, all the Bible agencies do similar things. We get the word of God into the hands of people, and that that's the important thing. We're actually not in competition at all, but Bible league is a little bit different in terms of the fact that we wanna have a high engagement with the word. So so when we when we connect with somebody, we wanna have that high engagement factor. And the way we do that is we partner with the local church wherever we work.
Hilton Edwards:So so it doesn't matter what country in the world we're working in, we're partnering with the local church. So we go in there and we offer them training and bibles and resources that they can actually reach others with.
Ardin:How many countries and stuff languages would you cover?
Hilton Edwards:Okay. So we're currently working in just over 70 countries. So yeah. And in terms of language, Bible league tries to go out into languages that are the most spoken in the world. So we know there's lots and lots of languages around this, you know, but what we say is we wanna cover the biggest percentage of the population worldwide.
Hilton Edwards:Our first target was to get to 80% of the spoken language worldwide. Now we're targeting 90. We've already got to 80. Yeah. So
Ardin:Okay. So you're not necessarily sort of going out into the lost tribes and that sort of
Hilton Edwards:No. Not not that generally. Although, having said that, we've actually have found some of those, in a place like Madagascar, for example. We actually, are going to places in Madagascar where they they don't even have their language written. Yes.
Hilton Edwards:That's all audio. And so we've produced audio Bibles for that particular people group. So so yeah. Whilst but that isn't really necessarily a target group, we do do, you know, sometimes work in those kinda areas. Yeah.
Jonathan:Now, I had the chance of hearing a little bit of your story personally, but I would love for you to share, a bit of your background. How did you come to faith and when did Jesus become real for you?
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. Well, I really wasn't that interested in faith at all. You know, I grew up. My mom is a Christian and she used to literally drag me to Sunday school. When I was old enough to make the choice for myself, I said not interested and didn't, you know, go.
Hilton Edwards:And then I I went into my teen years and and, my early twenties and went right off the tracks. You know, did all the the drinking and drugs and all that sort of stuff. So and then, yeah, it actually happened when I got transferred with work. So I got transferred from Cape Town to Durban and, Never would
Ardin:have guessed you're from South Africa.
Jonathan:Mhmm. Accent gets bored.
Jonathan:Well, I'm glad I'm glad you clarified this.
Hilton Edwards:But, yes. So I just I transferred from from, Cape Town to Durban, and it it was a it was a huge promotion. So I actually went from being a sales rep to being the general manager of the whole place. And when you're the top guy, you don't actually have a lot of friends at work. And I would move move city, so I didn't have a lot of friends there either.
Hilton Edwards:And and it was interesting because the one day I just said to I said to my wife, I said, you know, my mom had a lot of friends at church. We don't have any friends. Maybe we should go to church and see if we can find some friends. So so that's what we did. As it turns out, we went to church and what they did was that this is obviously not intentional, but it was kind of interesting that they played How Great Thou Art, which was my father's favorite hymn.
Hilton Edwards:And he only came to faith just before he died. And of course, that was his favorite hymn, so it was gonna hit me hard. It did. I cried, ugly cries, just fell apart. I literally I had not mourned my father's death.
Jonathan:Wow.
Hilton Edwards:Okay. And I just cried like like a baby. And and it yeah. For 20 minutes. So much so that my son actually said, he was 3 years old at the time and quite cute.
Hilton Edwards:He says to me he says, dad, we are never going to church again because it makes you cry. Oh.
Hilton Edwards:So so, you know, you're an example for your kids, you know, I
Hilton Edwards:think so. Anyway, so we didn't go for quite a while after that. And eventually and I was, you know, I was still struggling with my father's death. I was I I'd never properly mourned it. I was I'd, you know, moved cities.
Hilton Edwards:I was I was, yeah, still sort of trying to find something. I didn't know what it was, but I was trying to find something. And eventually, I saw this banner for alpha, you know, the alpha course, and it said, ask every question you've ever wanted to know about Christianity. And I thought, you are challenging the wrong person. I thought,
Jonathan:I'm gonna go and register for this. So I went
Hilton Edwards:in and I I registered, and and it was it was great because the guy behind the counter was a guy called Anthony Ant for short. And he said to me, he said, Hilton, when you're ready to make a decision to give your life to Christ, come to me and I'll pray with you. I said, mate, if ever I'm ready, and I doubt that's gonna happen, I'll, you know, come to you. Anyway, long story short, we go away for what was the offer weekend away where they they go through the the videos of the holy spirit and stuff like that. It's, you know, Saturday night, we're doing praise and worship.
Hilton Edwards:And, I'm just at the back trying to, you know, fade into something. I I didn't really wanna be a part of this. I I, you know, wasn't that interested. These Christians were doing funny things and I just, you know, it wasn't my scene, you know. Anyway, at that point, I didn't know what happened to me, but I know now that the holy spirit came over me.
Hilton Edwards:And I just felt like I've gotta I've gotta give my life to the Lord. Wow. So I looked for Ant. Found Ant. And I said, remember what you said when I joined?
Hilton Edwards:You said when I'm ready to, you know, give my life to the Lord, I must come and find you and you'll pray for me. I said, I'm ready now. And he said, well, we're just doing praise and worship and, you know, can we just, like, you know, wait for the I said, listen. I'm ready now and this feeling might pass.
Hilton Edwards:So so, I mean, I didn't understand it at all.
Hilton Edwards:So he said, okay. Fine. So he took me straight out. I got on my knees, did the sinner's prayer Mhmm. And, yeah, gave my life to the Lord.
Hilton Edwards:And then I, like, looked around and there was a swimming pool. And I said, you know how you Christians do this this water dunking thing? I said, can I be water dunked? Baptized? So he said, yeah.
Hilton Edwards:I can't see. Why not? He said, I'll just chat with the pastor,
Hilton Edwards:you know.
Hilton Edwards:And so, yeah, after that, I got water dunked, and that was it. And radical transformation. I mean, I literally went into work on Monday. And my sales secretary I was a sales manager. My sales secretary said to me, she said about 11 o'clock, she said, Hilton, what happened to you?
Hilton Edwards:Mhmm. And I said, what do you mean what happened to me? She says, on Friday, you were normal Hilton. And normal Hilton used to put 2 swear words into every sentence and 3 swear words into long sentences. She says, but you've been in since 7 o'clock this morning and you haven't sworn once.
Jonathan:Wow.
Hilton Edwards:And I said, really? She said, yeah. And I said, well, you understand this Christian stuff, don't you?
Hilton Edwards:Because I knew she was a Christian. I mean, this is like a newbie, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. She said, yeah. I understand this Christian stuff. I said, well, I became a Christian on the weekend. Wow.
Hilton Edwards:And she looked at me and then she gives me this huge hug. And I thought, well, that's a little bit inappropriate. I hadn't learned about these Christians that do this hugging thing,
Hilton Edwards:you know, kind of thing. So, yeah, she gives me this huge hug.
Hilton Edwards:And, of course, she was, like, overjoyed. I mean, she said she says, I've been praying for this to happen Wow. Ever since we started working together.
Hilton Edwards:I thought, wow. That's pretty radical. You know?
Hilton Edwards:And I actually phoned my sister and I said phoned my sister and I said to her, I said, listen, I've my life to the lord. And she also said to me, she said, you know how far back? I've gotta go in my prayer journal. She says it's not even in the current prayer journal
Ardin:Wow.
Hilton Edwards:For, you know, praying for you to come to faith. So, yeah, that was it.
Ardin:Awesome. Yeah. We kind of I I realized as you're telling the story, often when we're when when we're sharing faith or, you know, in the modern context of work, whatever, Christianity has kind of turned into kind of a lifestyle, a set of rules, how we live, how we choose to live, that kind of thing, things we choose to do or not do. And we forget to share just how transformational the Lord is.
Hilton Edwards:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was really an ugly bloke before I became
Hilton Edwards:a Christian. I can
Hilton Edwards:vouch for that. And a lot
Hilton Edwards:of people who knew me could as well, you know, sort of thing.
Hilton Edwards:You know, I was I was smoking 40 cigarettes a day. I was drinking half bottle of whiskey a day. I was I was really not a not a pleasant person. You know, I I was climbing the corporate ladder. I didn't care whose head I stood on to get to the top of it.
Hilton Edwards:You know, that that was me. I was I was living with a massive mortgage, massive debt, massive, you know, all the wrong things kind of thing. And, yeah, just yeah. Didn't really wasn't happy, you know. And, yes.
Hilton Edwards:God totally changed my life.
Jonathan:You've mentioned that sign that said bring all the questions you you ever had. Do you remember where there are certain questions that for you were the big questions, the big obstacles that that maybe beforehand? Or is that
Hilton Edwards:I I I think, you know, each and every week that we watch the video, and then you'd sort of they'd try and get you into the the questions around that. And I'd I'd always throw them off course. You know? So I'd say, no. No.
Hilton Edwards:But what about and and so for me, because my my father actually passed away with multiple sclerosis, and so he spent what I always used to say was 9 years dying. And and and that's it's a terrible thing, but that was it. You know? He basically lost control of his entire body over the period of 9 years. And then he came to faith, you know, just before he died, like, 3 years before he died.
Hilton Edwards:And I thought, what's with God? You know? Like, he comes to faith, and and you could heal him. You you could do all the stuff, but you still allow him to just come to heaven, you
Hilton Edwards:know, currently, which, I
Hilton Edwards:mean, is obviously a great result. But but I kind of didn't, you know, it really didn't sort of sit well with me, you know. So I had those sort of questions. I wanted to know why God would do that kind of thing. I wanted to know more the very selfish sort of stuff, you know, kind of thing, you know, why, know, that sort of stuff happens.
Hilton Edwards:You know, my mom had actually remarried, and then my first stepfather passed away, and I kind of I'd really liked him. Like, we but he only he was only with us for a year and a half, and I kind of why did that happen? You know, kind of and I mean, so so I was really questioning more stuff related to my life rather than, know, who's Jesus, why did he die, you know, that sort of stuff, what is the bible, etcetera etcetera. I often think I just did something in almost blind faith.
Jonathan:Yeah.
Hilton Edwards:You know? But I had a very real and tangible feeling that I had to do something right there and then. It wasn't a case of, you know like, it was almost like the the holy spirit said to me, Hilton, what is it gonna take?
Jonathan:Wow.
Hilton Edwards:And if you wanna challenge Hilton, ask him what is it gonna take, you know. And I just thought, man, I'm being an idiot. Like, it was one of those things. Like, the what they told me was convincing. You know, there there was no I I I tried to pick it apart and and and, you know,
Hilton Edwards:sort of come to come at it from a totally, you
Hilton Edwards:know, secular world view almost, you know, kind of thing. But it was it was legit. It was the real and then when this feeling came over me and, as I said, this time, I didn't know it was the holy spirit. But then afterwards, I realized it was the holy spirit. I thought, man, you know, I was actually, like, out of control, like, out of Hilton control.
Hilton Edwards:But I was within holy spirit control, which is really cool. Yeah.
Jonathan:Mhmm. You mentioned there's a transformation that takes place as a change. I'm curious if you don't mind sharing. How did that how did your family react to that? Because they're probably used to seeing you, knowing you very well.
Ardin:You have
Jonathan:all these commitments. How did that how did that look like bringing the transformation home? And the reason I ask is because I think there's a lot of people who are maybe exploring faith but have this question of will my family still accept me? Will my will my friends and coworkers? What what's gonna happen?
Jonathan:And and it's that relational side that maybe hangs them up Yeah. From that.
Hilton Edwards:Well, I think for me, obviously, it was a it was a a radical transformation that happens on my heart, but, obviously, there's a lot of stuff that was Hilton baggage that he still needed to deal with and and just that transformation. And, I mean, the thing is people who saw me and knew me saw that I changed and saw that I was better. So so they kind of they were really, like, sort of fascinated, I think, by that. You know? And, also, you know, a lot of people said, Hilton, you've stayed normal.
Hilton Edwards:And I thought, that's kind of a compliment. Like, you've stayed normal.
Jonathan:And I
Hilton Edwards:thought, well, that's that's good to know. You know? Like, I I'm glad. You know? Yeah.
Hilton Edwards:Absolutely. The old Hilton wasn't exactly a great bloke, but but I think there were certain facets within me that that, you know, like, yeah, God was doing a work and he was gonna change some stuff, but but I was still just Hilton. You know what I mean? So so even my non Christian friends who, you know, I've been drinking with and smoking with and, you know, sort of a little bit off the tracks, kind of that even those guys sort of thought, man, okay, he's he's he's changed. He's become one of these Christian people, but but he's not actually, you know, sort of totally over overboard or you know, he he's embraced that lifestyle.
Hilton Edwards:He's he's starting to change his life. He's starting to, you know, do things. But I wasn't sort of radical out there trying to, I don't know, stand on the street corners with a loud halo or something like that. I just you know, it wasn't it. I I just I think, you know, God has God knows the journey you need to take, and he took me on that journey and it was pretty gentle.
Hilton Edwards:And and, yes, there was a lot to do, but but, you know, he just gently took me through stuff. Yeah.
Ardin:So how was the journey then from South Africa to bible league here in Australia?
Hilton Edwards:Man, how much time we got?
Jonathan:We pay Arden by the episode, so take as long as you want.
Hilton Edwards:Okay. So, yeah, I I think, you know and that that was the interesting thing because I I came to faith and my wife at the time and I both came to faith, you know, within a week of each other. Okay? Yeah. And we both did the alpha course.
Hilton Edwards:And so it was kind of radical, but but then, sadly, yeah, she went off and and, yeah, did some stuff that wasn't great and and and we ended up getting divorced, which is also not a great thing for for anybody, especially somebody who's come to faith. And then I'd I'd actually started training to be a pastor. Wow.
Ardin:Yeah.
Hilton Edwards:So so it's kind of like and then you ask God more questions. Well, why this now, God? You know, sort of thing. So so yeah. It was it was just a really, really tough patch in my life.
Hilton Edwards:We got divorced and and and it wasn't something I wanted, but, you know, it was yeah. It it happened. And and then I I actually came to Australia, in the end of 2007. And I was sitting in a church in Brisbane. And you know when you get one of those messages, it's just for you, it doesn't matter if nobody else is there, if that message was just for you, and I and I was taking notes on my phone, still a blackberry in those days.
Hilton Edwards:Yeah.
Hilton Edwards:With a QWERTY keyboard. I can remember it vividly. And,
Hilton Edwards:you know, I was taking notes on my phone and it was all about the seasons of your life and how, you know, God's sort of bringing you from 1 into the next and this and that. And I thought, man, you know, this is so true, but, you know, I can't really see this for myself right now. Anyway, at the end of the end of the message, I just I just put my head down to pray, and, they they let everybody, you know, dismissed from the church, and and Hilton's still praying. Because I kinda find when I'm in a zone with God, you can drop an atom bomb next to me. I don't really care.
Hilton Edwards:I'm just, like, God and me. You know? That's kinda my space and and and don't mess with it, you know, sort of thing. So so they they you know, everybody else left the church. I just carried on praying.
Hilton Edwards:And afterwards, like, probably about 20 minutes, I suppose. I my head up, thought, okay. Everybody's gone. I better get out of here. You know, they probably gotta prepare for another service.
Hilton Edwards:And there was a lady behind me and said, listen. I've got a prophetic word for you. And I thought, well, I don't think so because, I'm not from here. So how
Hilton Edwards:can you
Hilton Edwards:possibly have that? You know, like, it doesn't really you know, really? So, I mean, you know anyway, long story short, she basically I mean, she spoke to me for, like, 15 minutes, but she said, god wants you to work for him in Australia. And I said, look. You are so wrong.
Hilton Edwards:You know? Like, the politest way I could do that, you know, sort of thing. I should do
Ardin:anyway. Jonathan's just spat tea across the office.
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. I I went back to South Africa. I fought God. I argued with God. I tried to reason with him.
Hilton Edwards:He wasn't listening. You know? And maybe he was listening. He just wasn't, you know, sort of acknowledging.
Hilton Edwards:I said
Hilton Edwards:to him, look, god. Can you just see what I'm doing in Africa? Because I was working for folks in the family. I'd started AIDS orphanage for double AIDS orphans. I I was doing all the stuff.
Hilton Edwards:I I I, you know, I was studying to be a pastor. Like, come on. You know? You get this, Scott? You know?
Hilton Edwards:So you think, like, can you see?
Jonathan:What I'm doing here.
Hilton Edwards:There's no ways, you know, what does Oz need me for? Like, a really, you know, sort of thing. Anyway, he he didn't let up, and, not really good to argue with him because you lose.
Hilton Edwards:You know.
Hilton Edwards:So after 2 years of arguing with him, I got colon cancer. Wow. 6 weeks away from dead, and I said, okay, Lord. You got me. I'm in.
Hilton Edwards:I'm in. Did you want me to go to Australia? Okay. Anyway, long story short, went through, you know, 6, 7 months of chemo, another three and a half months of of radiation therapy, 2 months of electron therapy, literally a year's worth of therapy. And I was, quite honestly, dead man walking.
Hilton Edwards:That's exactly the way I felt. Yeah. I was just that was it. And, yeah. And that was it.
Hilton Edwards:And then and then I thought, okay. Now I need to just get to Australia. And so, yeah, I started I resigned my job, sold my house, all this sort of stuff, and and then was waiting. And I thought job is you know, I thought God is gonna give me a job here and all this sort of stuff because, you know, you can do anything, and it didn't happen. And, eventually in August, the Holy Spirit said just get on a plane.
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. Right. This is like, you know, stepping out of the
Hilton Edwards:boat sort of stuff. Yes. Yes.
Hilton Edwards:I know it's a plane, but
Hilton Edwards:it's similar, you know, sort of thing.
Hilton Edwards:Anyway, and and, yeah, that was exactly it. And so I said, okay. Fine. And I bought myself a a ticket, and I got a 3 month travel visa. And, you know, that was it.
Hilton Edwards:And I took myself off the preaching roster because at that stage, I was still preaching. I I'd already done what they required of me because I had to do 5 years of itinerant preaching for my qualification, and I'd already done that. But I just said, keep me on the the, you know, sort of rotation of of the roster and stuff because I love what I did. It was all cross cultural preaching, so it was really, really cool for me. And, yeah.
Hilton Edwards:And then I so I took myself off the preaching plan and, you know, sort of I was gonna come here on the 22nd September and that was it. And, yeah, for the last 2 weeks in South Africa, I visited mates churches. So I got the opportunity to go there because I normally, I wouldn't because I'd I'd be preaching out on a Sunday morning, and then in the Sunday evening, I'd go back to my home church because I wanted to hang with my people, you know, kind of thing. And I also wanted to be fed. You know?
Hilton Edwards:So so that was it. And, so the last 2 Sundays, I got to I got to, 2 of my mates' church. They also had studied with me. And, yeah, basically, over those 2 weeks, I've got 2 more words. So the first one was God's taking you overseas.
Hilton Edwards:He's gonna use you to springboard people and his word back to Africa, Asia, and other countries around the world.
Ardin:Wow. Yeah.
Hilton Edwards:And then the next week was, another one which halfway through the pastor's message, they just pointed at me and said, hey. You know, you need to come speak to me afterwards. I've got a word for you and I and I wanna pray with you. And they said, god is taking you to Australia. He's gonna use you in a bible planting ministry.
Hilton Edwards:Okay. Sorta get it. And he did. He got me a job. Like, I came in on a travel visa and, literally, I landed so I'd asked my sister because my sister and her family live in Brisbane and my mom lives in Brisbane.
Hilton Edwards:And so they were the ones that I was holidaying with when I, you know, got the first word. And so I said to my sister, I said, just get me a a mobile number and that for us so that when I get there, I I can start telling people. I can apply for jobs and start telling people because obviously I had 3 months, so it's not a lot of time. I said I can, you know, apply for jobs and and tell people that's my number and whatever whatever. And so, yeah.
Hilton Edwards:So I did. She comes picking up from the airport. We go back to her house and, we're sitting down at the lunch table and this phone starts ringing on the table and she says, answer the phone. Answer the phone. I said, is that not my phone?
Hilton Edwards:My phone's in my pocket. Know? And she says, no. No. That is your phone.
Hilton Edwards:That's the number I got you. I put it into one of my old phones. That's your phone. It's ringing. Wow.
Hilton Edwards:I answer it and, of course, I said, yeah. Okay. He's and that was somebody, you know, from an organization in Sydney. They said, we've got a a maternity leave contract for you. You know, it's 12 months.
Hilton Edwards:Would you be interested? Etcetera, etcetera. And, you know, and so that was the Friday. The Monday I had an interview with them. At the end of the interview, they had it was a panel interview of 5 people on Skype.
Hilton Edwards:Skype. Not Zoom. Skype.
Hilton Edwards:And at the end of it, they said, oh, we just wanna, you know, confirm whatever. And then they just chatted amongst themselves, and they said, alright. Well, we'd like to you to come and meet our CEO. So that's cool as long as you send a ticket because I was in Brisbane and they were in Sydney, so, you know, and I had no money. So so that was it.
Hilton Edwards:They sent me a ticket and the so the the CEO was actually on leave that week and so I came the next Monday, and 10 days later I had the job. So, yeah, God can get you a job. Wow. And that wasn't that wasn't this job, but it was a job to get a to get a, you know, sort of visa and and then be able to, you know, move on to this job at a later stage. Yeah.
Jonathan:How do you explain that to people? I mean, we as Christians, we're sitting here. We're laughing along with you. We're we're we're loving it. You're talking to people who don't know the Lord.
Jonathan:Yeah. And you're trying to commute you're trying to explain to them that there is a God, that he is really his personal. He communicates with us, and he's communicated with me. Yeah. How do you, like do do people get that?
Jonathan:Do you feel like you have to change sort of change your language a little bit
Hilton Edwards:when you're talking to people? Change my language a little bit? Yeah. I think for me, I'm very passionate. It doesn't matter what I'm into.
Hilton Edwards:I'm very passionate about it. So so I'll tell a story really passionately, and I think that kind of, you know, comes across and and people realize that, hold on a minute, there is something. There's something inside of him that's a little bit different. There's something inside of him that that carries that sort of passion and and that sort of thing. And so, yes, whilst I do have to tell the story a little bit differently, you know, it's actually interesting because my secular friends, when I was coming to ours, they all thought I was gonna be back in 3 months.
Jonathan:Really?
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. And and I told them I'm not gonna be.
Hilton Edwards:I said, if God's called me to Australia, he's called me
Hilton Edwards:to Australia, and I'm not gonna be back in 3 months. You know? They said, you got a 3 month visa. You're gonna be back in 3 months. And, yes.
Hilton Edwards:So and it's been really cool to actually sort of over the years, through different, you know, sort of ways, social media or just, you know, sort of connect with people or whatever, to sort of get the opportunity to go back and and say to people, remember what I said. You know, not that you wanna rub their nose in it, but but you just kinda want them to realize that the promises of God are the promises of God, and you can stand on them.
Ardin:You know? Awesome. So now with the bible league, day to day, what what's involved?
Hilton Edwards:Well, I'm the CEO. So, you know, most people would think that's the chief executive officer. I like to call it cold, equipped, and sometimes obedient. You know? So yeah.
Hilton Edwards:It's obviously, it's a job I love because I think that's the whole thing is that I'm I'm I'm able to be a part of of, you know, the great commission, part of putting Bibles into the hands of people who either can't afford them or can't access them. And I think that's just such an important thing. You know, people think, come on, Hilton. But, you know, over over the the history of the world, they've printed more than 8,000,000,000 Bibles. There are only 8,000,000,000 people.
Hilton Edwards:So, therefore, there's one per person. The sad reality is is there's a lot of them are sitting on the bookshelves
Jonathan:Mhmm.
Hilton Edwards:And or in people's garages or wherever, and they're just not actually in the hands of the people who could actually use them. And so reality is is there is a Bible famine in some parts of the world. Mhmm. And that's really what we wanna, you know, sort of tap into. And so it's it's people who can't afford a Bible.
Hilton Edwards:And, you know, if you're if you're a part of that, if you you know, I mean, yes. We do fundraising in in Australia, but we also do some ministry in Australia, in prisons, amongst indigenous people. We do Bible based literacy, things like that. So so, yes, it's it's predominantly fundraising, but it doesn't matter, you know. I always say to people, God calls the people he needs to do the work he needs done.
Hilton Edwards:That's it. And and if he needs you to do fundraising, he's gonna call you into a ministry of fundraising. You know? And and so it doesn't matter what you do. And I said, sometimes, God even calls you into something that you you think, how on earth could I do this?
Hilton Edwards:You know, I look at my sister. She used to be in a in a Christian school, and she was she was, you know, deputy principal of a Christian school. And then she got called into a different school, a secular school. And and she's you know, we have this chat. And so I said, you know what?
Hilton Edwards:That's the best mission field.
Jonathan:Mhmm.
Hilton Edwards:You know? Because I said, the the problem with churches is they're too full of Christians
Hilton Edwards:because, you know, how
Hilton Edwards:how how
Hilton Edwards:you gonna how you gonna reach the lost if if all you got every Sunday is Christians, that kind of thing.
Jonathan:That's a great line. I love that. There was, there's 4 prisons Yes. Near our church. Yeah.
Jonathan:I mean, literally within less than a kilometer. Can you talk a bit about what Bible league is doing, to put the bible into prisons and some some of the fruit that you guys have seen there? Okay.
Hilton Edwards:Well, again, it's, you know, partnering with a local church. Now the local church the prisons don't have a church necessarily inside their, you know, sort of barbed wire fences, but but they they do have chaplains that go in and visit the the prisoners. And then also, often, prisons will have, like, a chapel hour or a little a little church service once a week, and the chaplain will host that, you know, sort of thing. So, again, what we do is we partner with the local church, which is the chaplains. And so we resource them, so we give them a bible to be able to use that for ministry.
Hilton Edwards:Now, they are volunteers most of the time, so they're working for small Christian, not for profits who need who need resources. And so, again, we partner with them, and we put those Bibles into their hands who they then take it into the prisons. Obviously, they've got the opportunity to connect 1 on 1 with the prisoners. Also, what we've done is bound an extra 52 lessons into that Bible because they are topics that deal with real prison issues.
Jonathan:Mhmm.
Hilton Edwards:Like, how do I handle prison noise?
Jonathan:You know,
Hilton Edwards:how do I deal with people in authority? Mhmm. How do I manage my anger? You know, how do I ask for forgiveness for past wrongs?
Jonathan:Mhmm.
Hilton Edwards:I mean, some all of us could probably deal with some of those, but but but they are real stuff, you know, real issues that face that are faced by prisoners. And and as a result, the prisoners start reading that and they start saying, hold on a minute. These lessons apply to my life. And then they realize that there's, you know, every lesson has got a whole lot of scripture references, and then they sort of flip backwards and forwards to the scripture references and they sort of see, well, it's not just that 1 or 2 or 3 verses. There's actually a whole chapter on this, you know, kind of thing.
Hilton Edwards:And and then the light bulb comes on and they they realize that, you know, God's word is a good guidebook for life, which is exactly what we want them to realize. And, you know, so so we get we get incredible stories coming out of prisons. In terms of statistics, and I don't like to put it like that, but but it's probably a good way to help people just understand. We're putting between 6000,8000 Bibles into prisons around Australia every year. Okay?
Hilton Edwards:The the chaplains will say to us that between 80 85% will give their lives to the Lord. So so you you you know, you've got a really, really good, success rate. It's not a house. It's it's god's success rate. And, you know, so you are you are allowing people to come to faith.
Hilton Edwards:And and the other thing is is that the so the recidivism rate and I believe me, I practice that word a lot. But but the recidivism rate, which is the repeat offense rate, okay, has dropped in this country. And so so we know that that's as a result of God's word getting into prisons on a consistent basis. And not just the word, because it's got those extra lessons in it. It's it's really speaking to the heart of the prisoners, you know, sort of thing.
Hilton Edwards:So so we've seen over the last 9 years since we've been doing this ministry here, prison population go from 45,000 to 40,000. So that means 5,000 less prisoners. And, of course, the, you know, the prison authorities will tell you that they're doing a fantastic job, and, that's why there's less prisoners, you know, sort of thing. The reality is, we know that god's word doesn't return void.
Jonathan:Yes.
Hilton Edwards:You know? And and we also know when we speak to prisoners and chaplains, they'll tell you nothing's changed in
Hilton Edwards:prisons in 20 years. So so if they haven't been changing anything,
Hilton Edwards:and we have, then we know what's working. And that's that's God's word is getting in there and changing prisoners' lives.
Ardin:How how many around the world would you do on an annual basis, do you know?
Hilton Edwards:In terms of, hard copy bible, around 3,000,000. Okay? In terms of digital, about 12,000,000. Wow. So so yeah.
Hilton Edwards:So probably about 15,000,000, you know, worldwide. But, again, our main aim is to make sure we got a high level of engagement. So we will always make sure that whoever we partner with is connecting 1 on 1 or in a small group with with, you know, the sort of person who's the end user or or you're not gonna come to faith. Our entire ministry is based on Acts 8. Philip comes alongside the Ethiopian.
Hilton Edwards:He says, how will I understand the scriptures unless somebody comes alongside me and explains? That's it. That that's Bible League's ministry in a nutshell. Yeah. Mhmm.
Jonathan:I love that. And there was another project that you spoke about, within Australia, had having to do with the Bible in in the language familiar to indigenous people. Can you talk a little bit about
Ardin:Yeah. About that?
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. So Bible League, in 2005, we met together with some retired Wycliffe translators who didn't wanna be retired. They wanted to keep working, so they wanted to volunteer their time to do translation. And Australian Indigenous Ministry, so they work within indigenous communities, and ourselves. And we got together as a group, and we said, how can we reach the biggest number of indigenous people across this country?
Hilton Edwards:Now, there's about a 1000000 indigenous people. There's about 700 dialects and languages. Wow. Okay. So if you if you do the math, there's about 1300, 1400 per per dialect or language.
Hilton Edwards:Okay. So so, obviously, to reach all of those or to translate all of those would take a long long time, probably until after Jesus comes back. But but we just thought, no. You know? And there's there's people doing those translations, and that's fantastic.
Hilton Edwards:We love that. But we say, what can we do to reach, you know, a a wide group of that? And and the translators said, you know what? If we translate the Bible into indigenous English, it'll work. Because most indigenous people can speak a degree of English, but they don't speak English like you and I speak English.
Hilton Edwards:You know, they'll use a word like mob. So they'll talk about the Pharisee mob, you know, and they'll call Herod the boss and things like that. You know? So so they use different language. It's English, and we all understand it, but but but it's not the words we use.
Hilton Edwards:You know? And, also, they're very, very much more descriptive than we are. So we might be able to say something in one word. They'll say it in 5 words, you know, kind of thing. So so it gives more of a descriptor, more of a storytelling.
Hilton Edwards:Because indigenous people will generally sit around and, you know, sort of spin a yarn, which is just just telling stories, you know, just to and that's how they talk. That that's their language, you know, sort of thing. So, yes, it's English, but they spin a yarn. And so they use a lot more words than we might use, you know, sort of things. So, yeah, it was a case of putting the Bible together into their language, and that's exactly what we we started to do.
Hilton Edwards:To date, we've we've published the first edition, which was 500 pages. And because it's it's being translated all the time, we've actually now got another 96 pages. So we're about to go to about to go to print in in November, and, we'll we'll have another 96 pages. And so, yeah, it's gonna keep growing. Most of the new testament and a little bit of the old testament, just to give you an idea.
Hilton Edwards:This for me is the most hugged Bible I've ever seen. Yeah. Because indigenous people will take it, they'll read it, they'll close it, and they'll say, can I keep it? And that you know, they wanna keep it. You
Ardin:know? Yeah.
Hilton Edwards:And then you say, yes, you can. It's it's a gift. And then they just hug it, man. And that's just so cool.
Ardin:Yeah. Awesome. If folks would like more information about Barber League?
Hilton Edwards:Yeah. You can give us a call. 180-0800-937. That's 1800 80937. You can go to our website, barber league.com.au, or you can, email us at info@blblforbarber league.org.au.
Hilton Edwards:That's
Jonathan:great. Well, Hilton, it was such a pleasure to hear God's leading in your life, to hear how he's placed you in ministry, and to hear about the work of of Bible League. Yeah. We'd love to catch up with you with you again sometime.
Hilton Edwards:Absolutely. I'd love to come back again. Yeah.
Jonathan:That's great.
Ardin:But thank
Jonathan:you for sharing with us.
Ardin:It was awesome. Thanks for coming. Thank you very much. Well, that was really, really awesome. What an amazing story.
Jonathan:Oh, fantastic. He's such a good communicator, great storyteller. I felt like we were on the journey with him.
Ardin:And I don't think the batteries have ever gone flat.
Jonathan:No. He's a
Ardin:high energy individual.
Jonathan:You well, you'd have to be. Right? But I I'm excited because, you know, even though you and I haven't spent that much time with him, I felt like we were old friends, you know, and he was telling the story of how God was dealing with him and, you know, it just made me think, what if we did that with each other? What if when we got together, we weren't talking about the weather, the latest show, or how tired we feel, but we just started talking about, hey, this is what God was doing in my story. Or, hey, can you celebrate with me some things he's done in the past?
Ardin:Yeah. Yeah. He was really awesome. Good stuff.
Ardin:Well, that's it for another week.
Jonathan:Yes. We're gonna be wrapping up soon, do you think?
Ardin:Unlikely. Christmas edition? Listenings this thing's got leaks.
Jonathan:Joe Rogan, look
Ardin:out.