Do you recall reading or hearing anything about the Feast of Trumpets? Scripture says only a little about it; so maybe that's why it seems new to me. But it connects in a way with the occasion Reasons To Believe is about to celebrate. Did you notice the small banner near the newsletter's masthead? It reads, "10 years exploring reasons to believe." That's a subtle hint that the ministry has now reached (or will reach, on July 1, 1996) its ten-year mark. I don't know whether to call this celebration a birthday or an anniversary. It's a little of both.
As I was contemplating the approach of this milestone, I remembered that God laid out a holiday calendar for the Israelites. Certain occasions He wanted them to remember and to celebrate year after year. I looked them up. One was the start of a new "civil" year: "On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire" (Lev. 23:24-25).
That's enough for me. Blow the trumpets. Let me offer the sacrifice of praise. We're about to start a new year and a new decade of ministry—on the first day of the seventh calendar month, no less! All right, so it's not the Jewish calendar. It'll do.
Before we charge ahead into this next year, next decade, I hear the Lord calling us to stop, sit, and ponder His faithful, miraculous provision that has brought us to this moment. There is a time for every purpose under heaven, and today is a time to remember.
He took a few volunteers keying names and addresses into a primitive Macintosh and turned them into a staff of sixteen, plus dozens of volunteers, all carrying out their responsibilities so superbly that we receive complimentary notes and letters about them. He turned a shy, speech-impaired scientist into an internationally known speaker (not to mention television personality). He moved Reasons To Believe from a corner of the Rosses' apartment to a room at the back of Sierra Madre Congregational Church to a set of three, now four, leased units in Glendora. He turned a shoeboxful of mail and a few dozen calls each week into nearly 400 letters and at least 150 phone calls a week—with e-mail on top of that. He took a few apologetics pamphlets and papers and turned them into a 48-page catalog of books, tapes, videotapes, CD-ROMs, educational games, and more. He turned the vision of a few relatives and close friends, including Pastor Dick Anderson, into a living reality that touches more than a million lives—more each year—across many parts of the world with its faith-building message. He took one regularly-supporting congregation and kept it at that. (Do you see a prayer request here?) He turned a dozen faithful, generous givers into a support team of 10,000.
The list of miracles could go on. (His turning water into wine seems more picturable to me than ever.) And how did He do all this? Certainly not by human might, nor by human power. But by His Spirit—in response to the prayers of a handful of faithful intercessors turned into a spiritual squadron of more than a thousand. If you are one of the praying troops, let me speak for Hugh and everyone else at RTB in saying thank you. These words seem too feeble to express our hearts. May He flood you with joy as you share with us this praise-ful celebration, this meditation on His wonderful works (Ps. 145).
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