Dear Family and Friends:

How many people do you know, who don’t know Jesus? One of the questions we have asked seekers is, “do you know someone who truly follows Christ?” Lots of them say yes to that question! A Christian’s influence had something to do with their coming to our page in the first place. Many really do want what you enjoy: security about eternity, freedom from their guilt, answers for why their life sometimes seems senseless to them.

Google likes to remind us how many people are searching for terms that tend to bring them to our sites—the company has no strong desire to reach the lost, but they do benefit by making businesses worry that more people are buying the other guy’s widget.

At least 2,000,000 searches for spiritual information are launched daily. They’re questions about God, eternity, destiny, creation and purpose; questions they don’t feel comfortable asking their friends for some reason.

Because this is such a growing trend, we’re already close to meeting our goal of six million indicated decisions for Christ this year. But that still means thousands, rather than millions each day. (200,000+ visitors each day for July.)

So where else are the rest of them going? I googled “Who was Jesus?” and… guess who spends the most money advertising for those search terms? The “Sponsored Links” to the right of the search results lead you to “Who was Jesus? Answers to your religious questions. Chat Live with a Mormon.” The same nice religious people who do the lovely family-oriented commercials on T.V.

So I followed the link and visited the page, signing up to chat live with a Mormon. Nathanael joined me shortly with a pleasant greeting. I asked things a seeker might ask: “On the home page a guy says he knows Jesus is real. What is that based on?”

Long pauses ensued. Answers from Nathanael didn’t really match the questions. At first I was glad to see that the experience would be so unsatisfactory for someone looking in such a wrong direction for answers. (Isaiah 55:2) May all of their visitors move on to authentic sources. But then I realized, the lag is because so many people are coming here with questions!

That really gave me a reason to beg God to continue to help us grow! While the numbers are stunning sometimes, we don’t need to slow down. We don’t need to back off, not even a little bit. God has given us a platform to declare his truth to the world. I don’t ever want to be drowned out.

As I shared before our recent staff conference, we’re reaching the point where Global Media Outreach’s staff needs to increase dramatically. Our small army of volunteer counsellors also needs to do so. We’re up to 3,100 Online Missionaries, but still only 26 staff members, about 1/1000th of Campus Crusade’s total staff. We can’t afford to lose anyone.

This update has been so much about the “Big picture” of our ministry that I feel the need to bring it down to the personal level again. I recently answered “B,” here in Florida, who in receiving Christ had the question: “I believe Christ died on the cross to redeem us, but I feel that the physical pain I endure is my cross, my penance for sins. I want to understand why we as humans suffer physical pain.”
What is in that question? Is God fair? Do I pay for part of my own sins, or the sins of others? Is there meaning in suffering? What would the nice folks over at Mormon.org tell her?

Numbers seem abstract until we realize they mean people. People with real pain, and real questions that need answers.

Please pray for us to meet these challenges. And please get involved. There are many ways you can do so. Contact us using the addresses in the letterhead for more information on how. Many of you are involved in various ways in our ministry, and for that, we are very grateful. Lately I’ve been calling some of you who have been receiving our letter. We have been so encouraged by the numbers of people who read it eagerly and pray for us faithfully. Thank you for your prayers, your support and your friendship!

Love,

P.S. Please see our latest photos!

Mike and Cindy Skinner
"One day closer!" (Romans 13:11)