God's Heart for a Lost and Dying World

I’ve known personally the sheer joy of bringing food to starving children in Africa. I have been humbled to see God provide life-saving medicines to rural mountain villagers in Peru. Little compares to seeing hundreds of wide-eyed, smiling first-graders crowded into a little Haitian school we helped build. The practical love of Jesus is making the world a better place. Yet, as good as these things are, there is something better, far better.

If I believe the Word of God is true, and I do, then I believe nothing compares to Jesus. If for me he is better than food, more vital than my health, more precious than knowledge, would the same not be true for a child in Haiti, a single mother in Uganda, or an orphan in Russia? Am I to believe Jesus is more than anything in the world for me, but that for a needy person Jesus takes second place? Is the world hungrier for rice and beans than for the Bread of Life? If I believe nothing satisfies like Jesus and that nothing compares to him, then my ministry must reflect this. I will not lessen my efforts on behalf of the poor and needy, but I must understand that the greatest need any human will ever have is to know Jesus.

As much as this ministry has reached out to the poorest of the poor—to give food and medicine where needed, to provide shelter for the homeless, to take in drug addicts from city streets—these things are temporal. They are vital, yes, but they’re nothing compared to the greatest gift we have to give to a world in pain: Jesus. The gift is his love, his death on the cross, his blood poured out for every baby born an orphan, every mother dying of AIDS, every homeless man or woman on Calcutta’s streets, every prisoner rotting away in an Ethiopian prison.

Several of our past missions updates have asked you to participate by helping fund projects such as orphanages, schools or clinics. Today we are not asking for support of a project, though these are all vital things we highly value. We are not asking for your giving, but for your prayers.

Pray that Jesus would empower our works among the poor to be fruitful in leading many to the saving love of Jesus. Pray that the feeding programs lead to people wanting to know why Christians serve. Pray that the schools would reach not only children but also their families for Christ. Pray that the clinics would be empowered not only to care for the sick but also to preach the Good News to the poor. And pray that the missionaries and evangelists we are supporting will be freshly empowered to share Christ with vigor and fresh anointing.

Your prayers will make a sharp and profound difference in the lives of thousands around the world. Please, pray—thank you.