I hope you will rejoice when you hear how many people you have you won to the Lord in the last 24 months. You and our other ministry friends have reached over 2 million people in 39 nations listening to audio Bibles in 89 languages.
One study reported approximately 90 million Americans face some type of chronic pain or suffering. Whether cancer, heart disease, disability, or other health concerns, many of us endure tremendous challenges to our body.
Does God care about these struggles we face? The good news is that God cares when we experience life’s challenges. Romans 8:28 promises, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
This month, I’ll be sharing television programs featuring important friends who are faithful Christian leaders and especially gifted to help us find God’s strength when we suffer. My first guest, Joni Eareckson Tada, is the founder of Joni and Friends, an international ministry for people with disabilities.
During this series, I asked her very personal questions about how God has helped her during her 51-year battle with quadriplegia, and more recently with breast cancer. She has authored more than 50 books, and is a popular public speaker both nationally and internationally.
Second, I also invited my friend Dr. Michael Easley. While serving as President of Moody Bible Institute, Michael developed a serious back condition that left him in excruciating chronic pain. His situation eventually led this gifted man to resign as the school’s President and end many of his speaking engagements. He endured life-threatening surgeries in which doctors fused metal rods in his back and neck.
Dr. Easley now serves as the lead pastor at Stonebridge Bible Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. During our broadcasts together, I asked him to share the important Scriptures and biblical principles God has shown him that have helped the most in dealing with his daily suffering.
God’s Help During Times of Pain
Today, if you are suffering from disability, pain, or illness, there are three series with Joni Eareckson Tada and Dr. Michael Easley that I want you to have. Their first series is called “How Can God Help You Deal With Chronic Pain, Disability, and Illness?”
In this series, Joni Eareckson Tada tells how God helped her when she first learned her spinal cord was severed, that she would never be able to walk or use her hands again, and that she would be a quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
What love and insights did God show her that helped her move beyond discouragement and depression to live for Christ and start a global ministry that is helping others who are suffering disability and pain?
In the second program, Dr. Michael Easley shares how God helped him endure a complete fusing of his spinal column, and afterwards, how God helped him cope with the severe pain he experienced every day. God showed him from Scripture that Jesus always sympathizes with our pain and suffering, and continually offers us grace and mercy in our time of need.
In their third program, Joni and Michael explain how they discovered that people who suffer from extreme diseases, disabilities, and chronic pain are very important to God and that their lives have great meaning and purpose to Him. All three programs in this series are available on DVD for a gift of only $25.
Then, their second series is entitled “God’s Comfort When You Are Discouraged, Depressed, and Fear the Future.” In this series, Joni and Michael first answer the question: What is the purpose and value of continuing to live when your body is failing and you suffer from extreme chronic pain?
In the second program of this series, they answer: How can a person keep from being discouraged or depressed when they experience constant setbacks from things like pneumonia, breast cancer, or ever-increasing pain?”
In the third program of this series, they address the question: How can God help you when you feel so bad that you think about ending it all? All three television programs in this important series are available for a gift of $25.
In addition, we are offering a third series entitled “Where Is God When Life Hurts?” Here Joni and Michael answer the questions: First, how can a person continue to believe God is good and loves them when they are experiencing constant pain and suffering?
Second, what can I do if the life-altering disability or illness I have will be with me for the rest of my life? How can I trust God to love me and be good to me in the future if I am facing a lifetime of pain and suffering? Will He make things better in the future?
Third, does the Bible teach that God will heal everyone who truly comes and prays to Him in faith? Why does God heal some and not others?
Fourth, where does the Bible teach that if you are sick, disabled, or paralyzed, no matter what your condition, you are very important to God and He still has a great purpose for you to serve Him?
Fifth, how can God help you when you constantly fall into depression when you face ever increasing setbacks in your health?
The five programs in this valuable series are available on both Blu-ray and DVD for $49. You may request all three of these series, containing all 11 programs, for your gift of $99. Please see the enclosed card for details.
Sharing God’s Word with the World
I also wanted to take a moment to thank you for your prayers and generosity during our recent programs with Faith Comes By Hearing director Morgan Jackson. In addition to the two million people reached in our previous project with their ministry, we have reached over 250,000 more people since his most recent series.
Because of you, unreached villagers in the mountains of Peru now know Jesus Christ and listen to the New Testament in their heart language. Because you gave, lost souls in Nigeria have received eternal life through faith in Christ. Young men and women living in garbage dumps in the Philippines have found joy and hope through God’s Word in their own language. Thank you for impacting eternity!
As I write this letter, we are continuing to receive updates from these nations and other locations where we have sent audio Proclaimers with your gifts. I’ll share more news as we have it in the weeks ahead.
However, I want to encourage you it is not too late to help. There are still many requests for Proclaimers and other audio Bible devices in these nations, as well as in India and the Bidi Bidi refugee camp. God will work through your gift to bring new life to many. Please see the enclosed card for ways you can help.
“It Will Be Worth It All”
During our recent programs regarding reaching the unreached with audio Bibles, a dear friend of our ministry recently wrote:
“Last Sunday I was homesick in bed. I heard the call for help. I don’t have much but every little bit helps. I said if only one soul will hear God’s Word and give their heart to God, it will be worth it all.”
I love this woman’s perspective! She gave what she could—and God is using it to change lives. Her giving reminds me of the woman who gave two small coins in the New Testament. Jesus told His followers her gift was greater than the gifts of anyone else that day. Why? She gave all she had to the Lord.
There is no better time to invest in making an eternal impact than today.
I pray He will lead you to partner with us this month as we seek to devote our lives to what matters most.
Many of you have given a gift to provide an Audio Proclaimer, a Micro SD Card, a BibleStick, or some combination of these devices. I asked Morgan, “For every one of our Ankerberg donors who gave money for an Audio Proclaimer, how many people did they win to the Lord and how many people did they help disciple?” Here is what Morgan told me on our recent program:
“On average, when you give a Proclaimer, because the people are communal, it will start four listening groups because they share it.
So, you’re going to see 90 people discipled as they listen from Matthew to Revelation and about 45 of those people will become brand new believers.
Now, in some places, many of them are brand new believers. Other times, they are all believers.
Now your donors and the John Ankerberg program have faithfully sent the Word of God. In Romans 10 it makes this comment. It says, “How will they believe unless somebody preaches? How will they preach unless somebody goes? But how will somebody go unless somebody sends them?”I have all of these national partnerships and workers who are willing to take the Word of God up the Amazon Rivers, up to the Andes, into the most dangerous places, hiking sometimes two weeks to get to a single village.
But they don’t have the money for the Proclaimers.And so, they need somebody to send them and that’s what your donors have done. They’ve sent them to 2 million people and 1 million of those people have come to faith in Christ.”
Again, Morgan was amazed to see that in the last 24 months, we have reached people in 39 nations speaking 89 languages. Through this generosity, more than 1 million people have accepted the Lord and 2 million have been discipled.
What this means is that if you gave two audio Bibles, about 90 people accepted the Lord and 180 people were discipled. It also means that in the last 24 months, our donors have provided audio Bibles so that two million people are now in audio Bible listen-ing groups each week.
And growth continues. Around 2,700 new people are listening to God’s Word each day!Approximately 1,350 people become new believers each day! With God’s help, we pray this will continue.
But they don’t have the money for the Proclaimers. And so, they need somebody to send them and that’s what your donors have done. They’ve sent them to 2 million people and 1 million of those people have come to faith in Christ.
Again, Morgan was amazed to see that in the last 24 months, we have reached people in 39 nations speaking 89 languages. Through this generosity, more than 1 million people have accepted the Lord and 2 million have been discipled.
What this means is that if you gave two audio Bibles, about 90 people accepted the Lord and 180 people were discipled. It also means that in the last 24 months, our donors have provided audio Bibles so thattwo million people are now in audio Bible listen-ing groups each week.
And growth continues. Around 2,700 new people are listening to God’s Word each day! Approximately 1,350 people become new believers each day! With God’s help, we pray this will continue.
Some of our ministry friends like you have given one, two, or three Micro SD cards with an audio Bible. They continue to make their way into restricted nations where people can discretely slip one into their cell phone or share with others.Some cards are passed around and listened to by four or five families.
Every Gift Matched This Month
This is an unprecedented time in history! God is drawing people to Himself from every tribe, village, and language in these last days. Even better, God is working through you to do it.
Last month, Morgan and I shared about the needs of the unreached in Peru, people who live along the Amazon River, in the highest parts of the Andes Mountains, and in the deepest parts of the Amazon jungle. It is one of the most beautiful nations in South America. Morgan said that they desperately need 2,400 more Audio Proclaimers to bring people in these areas.
In areas accessible only by foot, missionaries are taking Proclaimers in the lan-guages of villagers in these areas. One by one, lives are transformed by God’s Word, re-sulting in new believers, churches, and changed villages.
In addition, we told you that in Nigeria200 million people live and speak one of 500 languages. Despite persecution in many parts of the nation, an estimated 100 million believers now exist in Nigeria, making it one of the greatest revivals in history. Church leaders are asking us to provide 4,000 more Audio Proclaimers so they can bring the word of God to the 100 million Muslims in the unreached northern part of the nation.
Further, we talked about India. Why is India so important? It is the world’s second most populated nation, with 1.3 billion people. Only two percent of Indians are officially Christians. That is why Morgan asked us to provide 14,000 more Audio Bibles this year to reach people in India.
We are also working in the Philippines.It is a nation of 7,641 islands and 175 languages. When we first married, Darlene and I spent two weeks there to conduct evangelistic meetings. We saw how many people lived in abject poverty, without hope and in need of Christ. Through audio Bible listening groups, churches are being started in the 1,000 garbage dumps in Manilla and surrounding areas, bringing salvation to many.
We are also working with refugees who have fled from the Sudan to the Bidi Bidi refugeecamp inUganda. Previously, you helped us provide 1,000 audio Bibles when the camp grew to 100,000. Last year they grew to 200,000 refugees and we gave another 1,000 audio Bibles. They have now grown to 270,000 people. With your help, we will send another 1,000 Audio Bibles this year.
Every Gift Reaches People
Despite the two million people reached through this mission, there is more work to do. This month, generous donors from Faith Comes By Hearing want to encourage us and are willing to match every gift you give for audio Bibles. There are four ways you can help.
First, for a gift of $500 you can provide an Audio Proclaimer for a village or community that has never heard the Bible in their own language. Further, your gift of $500 will be matched, providing two audio Bibles for two villages. If you send $1,000, your gift will be matched and you will send four Audio Proclaimers to four villages. $2,000 will provide eight audio Bibles for eight villages.
Second, for a gift of $30, you can provide a Micro SD card of the New Testament and Jesus Film that people can insert into their mobile phone. This month, your gift will be doubled and you will provide two Micro SD cards.
Third, for a gift of $100, you can provide both a Micro SD card and a BibleStickto someone in a refugee camp, a pastor, or a Christian worker. BibleSticks are personal digital players that are battery-powered and come loaded with an audio Bible. They can 4reach people who are desolate, hurting, and in need of the truth of God’s Word in their language. Your gift will also be doubled
And fourth, if you give a gift of $1,000, your gift will be matched and you will provide 14 important items including six Micro SD cards, six Bible Sticks and two Audio Proclaimers. Each gift also helps us present the gospel on TV overseas.
Global Communications Center Update
Finally, let me share a quick update on our new Global Communications Center. God blessed us with the ability to purchase a building next to our current location at the end of last year debt-free. At the time, we mentioned the need for $250,000 to complete renovations. God then raised up dear friends who agreed to match up to $125,000.
We seek to complete this matching gift and begin ministering in our new location by August. But much needs to be done. Please pray about ways you can be a part of this effort.
I hope you are blessed and rejoicing in how your gifts are winning and discipling people for Christ. We thank God for each of you. If you can, please help us obey the Lord and win more people to the Lord in these hard to reach countries.