As we celebrate RESURRECTION DAY, Kevin and Leslie and Eurasian delegates gather in Moscow for the 17th annual Moscow Evangelists Conference. Prominent on this year’s conference schedule and the “100 Tent to-do list” is addressing the need of Europe. More than 300,000 villages, towns and cities in Europe (which includes Russia) do not have a Gospel witness. In 22 European countries, less than 1 percent are born-again. A league of Tent 100 Evangelists is joining hands with Western European delegates fulfilling Hudson Taylor’s prophecy of a revival spreading from the West of Russia through Europe!
In many European cities this Easter season, attendance in Mosques will surpass church attendance. Join with us as we strategize for the release of dozens of Bright, Yellow and White Miracle Life Tents across Europe! France, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Spain, England, Norway, Sweden, Finland and many other countries are joining this effort! You can too!
Can we do something about the desperate situation in Europe?
Just 25 years ago a small band of missionaries, nationals and our partners answered a call to raise churches and tents across the Ex-Soviet countries. Today, these churches are alive and well with millions serving Christ. Even President Putin claims Russia is a Christian nation with Christian values. Yes, it is possible to reach into Europe with Good News and restore hope to the continent that once gave the nations, including America, Christianity!
We sense the urgent need to act and we count on your involvement. One Pastor told us that the Lord took him to heaven showing him fields of people he had never seen along a winding road. Jesus told him, these are your people! He later called and said, Kevin you’re the only missionary couple we support! I’ve got news for you. You work and I get the fruit!
Folks, this is a team effort with team rewards! The upcoming Moscow Evangelism Conference costs $10,000, and Tent-Storming Europe will cost no less than $25,000 as an initial seed. Every gift you supply, large or small, makes a difference! Thank you for joining us in fulfilling Hudson Taylor’s prophecy of ushering in the last great awakening before he envisioned the Lord’s return!
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William Booth is not a name most people recognize. He was a prominent Methodist evangelist living in mid-19th century London, England. One cold night as he returned home from a service, he noticed the poor and homeless sleeping under the London Bridge and was overcome with compassion for them. He decided at that moment that he had to do something to help them, and The Salvation Army was born.
In 1865 He and his wife Catherine opened The Christian Revival Society in London, and “Food for the Million” soup kitchens, which fed large bowls of soup and bread to the poor. They established lodging houses to shelter the homeless from the bitter winters.
Christmas was always the most demanding time of the year and everyone needed extra help and encouragement. Because of this, General Booth would send a telegram each Christmas Eve to his weary soldiers all over the world, to encourage them in their work.
In what would be his last Christmas, he composed a paragraph of heartfelt words to inspire his troops, but then realized the cost of sending it would be too much. He edited the paragraph into three sentences, then one sentence, then three words—and realized even that would be too many.
Finally, he decided to send only one word…one word that would continue to inspire his army to win souls, feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.
That word was simply, “Others.”
This Christmas season remember that Christ came to dwell in your heart and in the hearts of people. Allow Him to dwell in you and live through you—and let this Christmas be an “others-minded” Christmas!
I recently read an article in the Huffington post entitled: Redefining Happiness in India. In the article a young doctor stated:
“As Indian Americans, we have grown up hearing stories from our parents about how they left India in search of a better life. They came to the West to create new opportunities for themselves and for generations to come.
The younger generations have found more opportunities, more amenities and more comfort. But somewhere in always striving for more, we have also become more discontent. We have started asking the questions, “what brings real happiness?” and “what is the definition of a good life?”
She concluded that this is happiness:
– To stop constantly thinking of ourselves, and instead find joy in serving others.
– To look within for problem solving instead of finding short term joy in outside things.
– To share our joy by sharing with others.
One of my most important life-experiences came as I was helping Jean, a woman who attended our weekly feeding program. Our local city had issued a notice that she was to clean up her property or they would haul off all her possessions. What was so tragic is that although she owned a beautiful home, she lived on the front porch! You could not even find a pathway through her home. Though she was a gentle soul with a love for nature and a concern for suffering people, she had a serious mental struggle.
Our local outreach group organized a team to clear her property—not an easy job since to her, everything seemed valuable. I remember sitting on the street curb, dirty from head to foot, picking up seeds that had just spilled from her pouch. And at that moment, a carload of young people careened by and they shouted, “Look at the street people!” Then I realized—they were talking about me! But as my eyes caught Jean’s, I saw joy—because someone cared enough to help her pick up her little seeds.
I have carried that experience with me to over 60 nations! Why? A well-lived life is a life engaged with serving others! If you are sad or depressed, remember there is always someone else who is sadder and more depressed than you. So go out and get busy interacting with others!
Then, as Jesus said, you will discover there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another! (John 15:13) The Dalai Lama said “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
True human value is not found in serving yourself, but in serving others!
Wesley Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker and Navy veteran, was waiting for the downtown local train at 137th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. It was lunchtime, and he was taking his two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, home before work.
Suddenly, a young man standing nearby collapsed to the ground, his body convulsing. Mr. Autrey and two women rushed to help. The young man, Cameron Hollopeter, managed to get up, but then stumbled to the edge of the platform and fell onto the tracks between the two rails.
Within seconds the headlights of the No. 1 train could be seen approaching. Making a split second decision, Mr. Autrey leapt into the drainage trench on top of Mr. Hollopeter, pressing him down in a space roughly a foot deep.
The train’s brakes screeched but could not stop in time, and several cars rolled overhead within inches of Autrey’s blue knit hat, smudging it with grease. Mr. Autrey heard the onlooker’s screams. “We’re ok. down here,” he yelled, “but I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father’s ok!”
Power to the tracks was cut, and crews worked quickly to get them out. Mr. Hollopeter was taken to the hospital with only bumps and bruises, police saying it appeared that he had suffered a seizure.
Mr. Autrey refused medical help, because, he said, “nothing was wrong.” But he did visit Mr. Hollopeter in the hospital before heading to his night shift. “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help,” Mr. Autrey said. “I did what I felt was right.”
Act on your instinct to help! Don’t be a bystander in life when you can be a participator! You can find the courage to care and you can change your nation, your family and your life! Don’t ask what life can do for you, but rather ask, “What can I do to better the lives of others?”
In Jim Stovall’s famous book The Ultimate Gift, we read the story of a man striving to make his billions, who at the end of his life, leaves a broken, miserable family that has become accustomed to living on his wealth. His only son who possessed a work-hard-help-others attitude, died in a tragic accident. The Ultimate Gift was left to that son’s son, who was wasting away on his grandfather’s monthly stipend.
What could this ultimate gift be? All of the family expected it to be money, and lots of it! But the grandson was given an opportunity for a journey where he would discover hard work, purpose, friendship, giving, and even stewardship!
Receipt of his inheritance would be based upon his ability to rise above the challenge his grandfather had set for him in a series of tests. This young man discovered the ultimate gift was not in having but in giving life, working diligently, using his talents and rising to the challenge at hand! Research shows that individuals who know and exercise their character strengths live happier, more successful lives—they have stronger relationships, more engagement at work, and greater life balance.
On December 7, 1988, an earthquake devastated the northwestern section of Armenia, killing an estimated 25,000 – 50,000 people. After the earthquake, a father rushed to his son’s school only to discover that the school had been flattened. The father remembered dropping off his son earlier that day, and as he did every day he told his son, “No matter what, I’ll always be here for you!”
When the father saw the school he feverishly began removing rubble from where he believed his son’s classroom had been. The other parents were wailing, “My son!” “My daughter!” Some even told the father to go home, that there was no chance any of the students were alive. But the father replied, “I made my son a promise that I’d be there for him anytime he needed me. I must continue to dig.”
Courageously, he proceeded alone. He simply had to know—is my boy alive or is he dead? With seemingly supernatural strength, this father continued to dig…for 8 hours…12 hours…24 hours…36 hours.
Then, in the 38th hour, he heaved away a heavy piece of rubble and heard voices. “Armand!” he screamed. “Dad! It’s me—Armand! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save us! Dad, take them out first, I know you’ll be here for me!”
Moments later the father was helping his son Armand and 13 other frightened, hungry, thirsty boys and girls climb out of the debris. How could this happen? When the building collapsed, these children had been spared in a tent-like pocket. When the townspeople praised Armand’s dad, his explanation was, “I promised my son, ‘No matter what, I’ll be there for you!'”
The ancient scriptures say, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Scripture: Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)
My brother-in-law Pat is one of those amazing individuals who exemplifies the “courage to care.” Several years ago he was fighting a fire in downtown Detroit, a city that is infamous for the fires set in its scores of abandoned buildings.
What did Pat do? He jumped through a tiny basement window just in time to stop a man from setting a policewoman on fire! Somehow Pat wrestled her free of the assailant who had just doused her with gasoline and had a lighter in his hand! His act of courage saved the woman, the house, and possibly his entire company.
I asked Pat, “How did you do this?” His response was simple: “You do the things you must to protect people. I am not sure I even thought about it…I just acted!”
I want to challenge you today to act on your instinct to help! Don’t be a bystander in life when you can be a participator! You can find the courage to care and you can change your nation, your family and your life!
Don’t ask what life can do for you, but ask, “What can I do to better the lives of others?” Remember Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends!
Scripture: John 15:13 (NIV)
In the spring of 1883 two young men graduated from medical school. The two differed from one another in both appearance and ambition. Ben was short and stocky. Will was tall and thin. Ben dreamed of practicing medicine on the affluent United States East Coast. Will wanted to work in a rural community.
Ben begged his friend to go to New York where they could both make a fortune. Will refused. His friend called him foolish for wanting to practice medicine in rural USA. “First of all,” Will said, “I want to be a great surgeon. The very best, if I have the ability.”
Years later the wealthy and powerful came from around the world to be treated by Will at his clinic. Today, the Mayo Clinic is one of the leading educational and research hospitals in the world. Why? Because someone chose a life mission to be the very best they could be, and in doing so opened a pathway for scores of others to follow!
Who is your neighbor? Who are you required to help in this world? Should you be involved in the business of rescuing others, or is it just better to sit by and watch people suffer?
A religious leader asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with a story about a man who was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes and beat him, leaving him almost dead.
A priest saw the injured man and quickly passed on the opposite side of the road. So did a second priest! Then a Samaritan man, considered lowlier than a dog but evidently having some wealth, took pity on the stranger, bandaged his wounds, put him in an inn and cared for him.
Jesus then posed this question, “Which of these three men was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hand of the robbers?” The religious leader responded, “The one who had mercy on him.”
In every human soul, there is a void—an emptiness, waiting to be filled. What will you pursue to fill that void? Success? Family? Prosperity? Education? Or are you willing to step out and set a different standard for your life? A standard that can make a difference?
