Renewal—presenting welcome challenges

Even under Judah's godliest king, renewal was far from comprehensive. Lesson for us: find the renewed ones—the Josiahs, Jeremiahs, Nahums... and spread their message.

Do you pray for revival in our nation? King Josiah became my favorite of Judah’s kings in a study of revivals from Walter Kaiser’s great book Revive Us Again at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs Bible College. Finding the forgotten book of the Law sparked the Kingdom of Judah’s most thorough reform. As we ask God for personal renewal, church or ministry reawakening, and national revival, we can learn much from his uncompromising efforts to turn his nation’s heart back to their God.

“Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.” (2 Kings 23:25)

How did it work out? Even under determined leadership, the results were mixed. Events in the book of Jeremiah start while Josiah was still on the throne. (1:2) Jeremiah was the son of the very priest who brought the recovered book of the Law to Josiah. We know him as the “weeping prophet,” because the people to whom he was sent did not listen to him, (Jeremiah 25:3), even while Josiah was ruling wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord.

As I’ve shared in other updates this year, Global Media Outreach continues to innovate in its mission of giving millions the opportunity to receive a gospel presentation and follow-up in discipleship. I consider my expanded role a platform to call for a renewed commitment to the fundamentals of our ministry. In the beginning, when the response to our gospel websites was overwhelming, we built a team rapidly to follow up with seekers. After 13 years of ministry, we have some Online Missionaries who have developed some outstanding ways of sharing their faith and everyone can benefit from making their best practices better known. Please pray for our success. We need to find the Josiahs, Jeremiahs, Nahums, Zephaniahs and Daniels & Ezekiels in our ministry. Please pray also that the Lord and our faithful volunteers will be honored in the process, even as what we learn presents opportunities for us to be increasingly effective.

I want to encourage you with a story from Annette, one of our Online Missionaries: “Kaumba [in Gambia] said that he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. He was spiritually hungry and asked good Bible questions. I worked with him until I contacted a missionary who met with Kaumba and reported that he is seeing him in person every week to disciple him. He has even brought a college roommate with him to the missionary’s church. He adds that the next step is baptism for both Kaumba and Collins, his roommate. He’s grateful for the contact, as it allowed him to get a foot in the door. He reports that his church now has four students from university as a result of [my] efforts.”

I’m so grateful for the outstanding Online Missionaries like Annette who I am privileged to support as they work to reach seekers all around the world like Kaumba and his friends for Christ!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our spring matching program. By God’s grace the goal was met! It couldn’t come at a better time, with Emily about to enter college, our CSU staff conference coming up and Luke starting to drive. Traditionally, spring is a time of reduced donations for most ministries, and your concern for us - your prayers for us - have helped us focus on the challenge of renewal for our ministry. We’re so pleased to be able to report that God has answered your prayers for us! We can’t thank you enough!!

Love, in Christ,