INTERVIEW WITH MARK MIRZA OF COMMON THREAD MINISTRIES

 

JR: Welcome to the blog, Mark. How did you come to Christ, and how did God lead you to starting Common Thread Ministries? 

MM: I accepted Christ when I was 7 years old. My parents were lay-folks who helped expand a fledgling church just outside of San Francisco, and the need for a savior captured me. I am still, an unashamed San Francisco Giants fan, which might say more about myself than I want to. But, that’s life. 

Common Thread Ministries came into being as a result of a lunch I had with a colleague when I was in the A & D community (I worked with Architects and Interior Designers as their lighting rep). He and I wanted to start a Bible study with men and women from the different disciplines in our industry. As we were walking back across the street (J-Walking, as I recall), I asked him, “Michael, what is the Common Thread between all of us who will join this Bible study?” Thus, the ministry title was cast. 

Interestingly enough, the prayer side of the ministry came about a few years later. I DID NOT get involved with prayer because I was a “Holy-Guy.” I took over the prayer position in our Sunday School class because I was tired of the inefficiency in the way it was handled. I remember thinking “I’m gonna bring my business acumen into this and FIX IT!” Little did I know, God had another idea up His sleeve. 

A few years later, in 2006, Dr. Charles Stanley started the Sons of Thunder, a men’s prayer ministry, and, no, he didn’t name it that because of James & John. He was asked in an interview around Mid-2006 why he named it Sons of Thunder, and he said something I have never forgotten, and I have found to be true everywhere I go. He said, “When men pray, it sounds like thunder going up to heaven.” So, Dr. Stanley started Sons of Thunder and after a few weeks I was the lay leader of it, and remained so for the next 4 ½ years when I went out on my own to lead my own prayer ministry. 

JR: I was impressed by all the items on your web-page, such as the pastor's page, Washington Encouragement, and Pray All Year. Could you tell us about those ministries, and any other on your heart.

MM: The mission of Common Thread Ministries is to “Rebuild the Foundations of Prayer.” And my efforts of everything I do, is to that end. 

In DC, I pray with BOTH sides of the aisle, because I’m not there to fix the way anyone thinks, I’m simply there to bear their burdens. I pray with Congressmen/women, Senators, staffers, visitors and janitors. I pray in the privacy of their offices and in the middle of the street where dozens of people are walking by us. 

Pastors are people with usually NO ONE to pray with them, so I do about 60 prayer conference calls per week, mainly with pastors, allowing me to pour into their lives. I would add that my prayer calls ALL BEGIN with praise. I believe it is the most ignored aspect of prayer. See https://markmirza.com/most-ignored-prayer/ -- My prayer focus is “engaging” people in doing prayer with them. I’m not interested in putting out “The 12 Most Important Prayers…” and etc. I want to see men and women DOING prayer and making commitments to do prayer, well, forever. 

Most of my prayer calls have been going on for 5-6 years, every week. It’s actually my way of discipling men and women. In fact my new business card says, not only “Author” but it also says “Pray-er Discipleship” meaning, I disciple pray-ers. I disciple men and women who want to pray. 

JR: A lot of my interviews are with novelists, and while I didn't expect it to, this one will fall into that category. Would you like to tell us about Divided Nation? 

MM: I have found that writing novels has become a great way for me teach on prayer. In fact, for a little longer, as a result of Covid-19, ALL MY NOVELS are free at https://MarkMirza.com/FREE-Digital -- The novel you are referencing, Divided Nation was my 2nd political novel. However, in ALL my novels, you have no idea who the Democrat or the Republican is, because that’s not the focus.
 

This novel takes place 5 years after Covid-19, when Christians accidentally spread the next pandemic. The book is a sobering look at what persecution could look like for Christians in the USA (real persecution). I explore how Paul handled persecution, both dishing it out, and taking it. Believe me, my take is not the typical Left Behind view. One of the chapters is a modernization of My great grandmother’s martyrdom, at the hands of non-Christians. 

My first political novel is Divided Together and it is a challenging view of how we, in the church deal with our friends who vote differently than we do. The idea is that our unity is in Christ, not the ballot box. This story came from a Congressman who sat with me and told me about a friend of his, in his church, who, after church came up to him and started yelling at him for his politics. It bothered me, and that novel was the result.

JR: One thing that impressed me was hearing you speak at a Speechless Prayer Conference in Georgia, probably over a decade ago now. You mentioned that you don't pray for healing of those who are sick unless the Spirit directs you. Could you mention your rationale for that?

MM: And I still don’t, Jeff. Not because I do not believe in miraculous healing, I have prayed for healing and watched them get healed. My rational comes from a simple reading of scripture. Before, I go further, I pray with men and women all the time who pray for miraculous healing, because of their read on scripture, and I never challenge them, I simply pray for the same issue, if the Lord leads me to, the way I think scripture says, and then, if that pray-er wants to talk to me afterwards about it, I’ll dialogue with them. But again, just like when I am in DC, I am not here to “fix” the way anyone thinks (Hint: I couldn’t even if I wanted to).

Perhaps, it’s better to start on the other side of the argument to explain my position. To pray for healing, most people use Isaiah 53:5 & 1 Peter 2:24: both passages say, “By His stripes you were healed.” As I talk with people, I get it, that was the way they were taught, by their pastor, their mama, by someone they trust. And personally, I’m not going to tell them they are wrong. However, it seems to me, the reasons those two passages were chosen to relate to physical healing was because of a 4 letter word, in English, “WERE.” You see, if you read the verses before and after the two passages it is clearly talking about spiritual healing, not physical healing. Most people have never read the passages though, they have just taken for granted what they were taught. 

Let me tell you what I think happened, the same people who push those verse on television (and before that in large crusades) would combine the “By His stripes you were healed,” passage with the James 5 passage to tell their congregants, “That if YOU HAVE ENOUGH faith, you will be healed when I pray for you.” There is a problem with that though, when you look at James 5:15-16, the passage is clear, the one who is to have the faith IS NOT THE ONE BEING PRAYED FOR, BUT THE ONE DOING THE PRAYING. Look, there are a lot of people who pray this way because its what they were taught, They ARE NOT doing it out of malice. But, I suspect a lot of people combine these verses because if the person isn’t healed, it ain’t the fault of the pray-er. 

Again, I am all about miraculous physical healing. I’ll never forget the woman who had pain in her feet, I prayed for healing and 6 months later, she still had no pain, Praise the Lord. So, unless I get a sense from the Lord, I do not pray for healing. But if I get a sense from the Lord, I pray with the power of Psalm 5:3, I lay the request before the Lord and watch expectantly for my prayer to be answered the way I prayed it, the way He laid it on my heart, according to the desire of my heart (ref: Psalm 37:4). 

JR: We are definitely living in interesting times, with COVID, the Ukraine invasion, the breaking news items that inspired your novel, and the like. How should a Christian be prepared for the tribulation and persecution I believe are coming? 

MM: First, we need to accept that it is coming. If for no other reason that because Jesus told us in a number of places, “You will face persecution.” I fear the reason so many people are pre-trib, is because they do not want to go thru persecution. Personally, I don’t take a stand, Pre-trib, Mid-trib, Post-trib. The late Dr. Walter Martin used to say, “Pre-trib, Mid-trib, Post-trib, it’s all a bunch of tribulation anyway, men and women are dying and going to hell and we’re arguing about nothing!”

Let’s go back to Jesus’ words, He told us how bad things would be when He returns. He said they would be as bad as it was in Noah’s day (Matthew 24:37). Do we actually think, life will be “hunky-dory” Jesus will return and THEN things will get bad? If that’s true, then He owes an apology to Iran, North Korea, China, and much of Africa where Christians are being violently persecuted. 

You asked how we can be prepared, as with most Christian principles, they are much too simple for most people. I think the way we can be ready is to start living as if, THIS IS NOT OUR HOME! Recognizing that we are merely sojourners on earth would satisfy a lot of issues in Christendom.  

JR: Thank you for your time. How do we find your web-site I mentioned? Any other news with Common Thread Ministries you'd like to share?

MM: Please feel free to sign up for my emails. Jeff, you and your wife can attest to the fact that I am VERY CAREFUL about how many emails I send out. People can sign up at: https://MarkMirza.com/email 

Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this interview.

INTERVIEW WITH MINISTER, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, AND AUTHOR SAM ROBB

JR: It is not often I get to interview a former Presidential candidate (probably never). What was it like? What lessons did you learn, and anything that has made a lifetime impact?

SR: It was really a once in a lifetime experience. I mean, even if I never run for that particular office ever again… how many people can say they’ve even tried? My biggest lesson came not just from my own particular race, but from working on Jo & Spike’s campaign last year. It’s really simple, but pretty profound: like Wayne Gretzky said, you really DO miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. What I learned in that campaign is to take a shot. Run for office. Write that book. Volunteer for that cause. Ask for that raise. Call that person. Ask for the interview. Sure, sometimes the answer will be “No”… but you will be amazed and surprised at how much you can accomplish just by showing up and doing something. Be someone who makes decisions and makes things happen instead of someone who waits to see what’s going to come down the line.

JR: Another hat you wear is being a minister. How did you come to know Christ and get into the ministry?

SR: I was saved at the age of 30. It was a long path to get there. I was raised Catholic, and went to a Catholic high school, so someone who’s been there can probably understand what I mean when I said I came out of there wanting nothing to do with religion! I was more or less an agnostic through college and my twenties. I’ve heard an agnostic described as “someone who doesn’t know the nature of God, and is sure that you don’t, either.” That was me. It was something that might be fun to argue about, but not something that was real to me, you know? It wasn’t until my wife and I returned to PA from my time in the Navy out in California that I found myself someplace different. My wife grew up in a Christian and Missionary Alliance church, and when we got back to PA, we started going there. It was pretty obvious that the people there took God seriously, and they were happy about it. It was also my first exposure to expository preaching, which really made me sit up and take notice. People who read the Bible and paid attention to what it says, not what someone says it says? Whoa! We went from there to an independent Baptist church where we found an amazing group of people and a fantastic preacher by the name of Kurt Skelly. By that point, pretty much every message I heard was convicting me of my need for a savior. So it was Easter weekend in 1999 that I finally admitted what I already knew, and accepted Christ as my savior. After that, I wanted to learn, I wanted to help, I want to do, I wanted to teach… so it wasn’t long before I started helping out with Sunday school classes, taking college courses on the Bible, and working towards understanding theology and apologetics well enough that I could do my best to communicate the Gospel message to others.

JR: I remember that one of your rivals on the campaign, Dan "Taxation Is Theft" Behrman, invited you to speak at a rally he had one Sunday. How has your involvement in the Libertarian Party expanded your ministry? Also, has anyone suggested you are mixing church and state or has questioned if Libertarianism is compatible with Biblical Christianity?

SR: That was a wonderful time! Dan is a fantastic guy, Meeting people like him and Ken Armstrong and Jo and Spike (in photo with Sam)… that was all just so wonderful, getting to know all those great people. I was delighted that he asked me to speak, because I think there’s such an unseen overlap between Biblical Christianity and Libertarian thought that the two might as well be different sides of the same coin. God gives us freedom of choice, and then uses his Word to show us that following His way is the best way… Libertarian thought is that you have freedom of choice, and if I want to convince you that I have the best way, I need to use my words - not force! - to get you to follow my advice. I mentioned Ken Armstrong earlier - Ken’s a pastor, and one of his comments really stuck with me. The idea that the Libertarian Party is his mission field. My wife reminds me of that often, that this is my mission field. I’m here for a reason, and ultimately, that reason is to see lives changed by the Gospel. I’ve had a few people push back on the idea of a preacher as a politician. Usually die-hards who oppose any and all religion, and not necessarily on Libertarian grounds. So long as I am not seeking to use the power of the state to force people to believe what I believe, where is the conflict with Libertarian philosophy? I don’t understand why we would want to use force in any case, not when we have the power of the Gospel and God’s word. I think that Christians need to get away from “There ought to be a law” and back to “We ought to preach Christ to the world”.

JR: Do you believe Christian Liberty is at risk here in the US? Why or why not? What are practical ways we can defend it?

SR: Yes. Not necessarily because of any one thing, but because it has always been at risk. Like I said above, I think that Christians need to get away from “There ought to be a law” and back to “We ought to preach Christ to the world”. As the body of Christ, we have too often gone for the easy route of using the state to force people to behave a certain way - then we declare that victory over immorality, when in fact, we’ve changed behavior but not hearts and minds. Legislating behavior the junk food version of salvation. It looks good, it tastes good, it may even feel good for a while… but ultimately, it doesn’t provide the spiritual nourishment that people need, and it kills them. Which is eerily close to the description of how sin works in our lives, isn’t it?

JR: You recently were a part of the Perspectives of Freedom event. What was your role there, and anything of interest dealt with?

SR: That was a great event organized by Liz Terwilliger. She’s an incredible lady who’s seeking the LPPA nomination to run for the US House of Representatives in her district next year. She’s been incredibly active in her community and region these past few years, and this is an example of that. She brought in a number of different speakers (Spike Cohen, Noel Olinde, Nick and Valerie Sarwark, and others) to have round table discussions about how freedom directly impacts our lives. We talked about health mandates, the military, police reform, education - you name it. There were a couple of common themes across all the discussions. The big one for me was very much related to what I see as a desperate need within the LP. We need people who are able to preach liberty. That means getting out and finding people where they are, then talking to them about the problems they are having, and then showing them how liberty is the solution to their condition. I may be biased, but I think the last 2000 years have shown this is a pretty successful model for reaching people! Folks like Liz and Spike and Jo Jorgensen have done a fantastic job of leading the way here, and I am excited to see us continue on that track as we grow the party here in PA and across the country.

JR: Most of my interviews are with people in the arts, and especially authors. You are an exception... or so I thought. Actually, you have written a short story in the sci-fi collaboration "Exploring Infinity." Would you like to tell us about your contribution and any other writing goals you have?

SR: I’ve got a couple of short stories out there now, plus a book of Dad Jokes :) You can find them all on my Amazon Author page. Hopefully there will be more to come. The past year has been busy, but I do like storytelling. My story in “Exploring Infinity” is about an alien who gets trapped on Earth thanks to an errant time-traveller. My other stories focus on “Weird Pittsburgh”, a setting where faeries, the undead and even angels sometimes wander through the City of Bridges. It’s still hard for me - I’m not a 10k word a day guy like Larry Correia, by any means! - but I do enjoy telling an entertaining story. Really, I’m just glad that some folks out there think they’re worth spending time on. That makes me happy :)

JR:Thank you for your time. What is on your schedule? Do you have a blog or webpage for those who want to follow your activities?

SR: I’m getting more involved with the newly formed Pro LifeLibertarian Caucus and with several crisis pregnancy centers in our region. I will stay involved in LP politics, though perhaps in more of a peripheral or supporting role as time goes by. I love being able to help people accomplish their goals, and contributing to or supporting a campaign or effort is one of the real joys I’ve found in the LP. You can find me on Twitter as @Samrobb4liberty, or on Facebook as SamrobbForLiberty. I also have a Substack blog named “Political Perceptions”  that I will write longer pieces for once in a while.