Please accept my apology for getting this letter out late this month. I did something I haven’t done in a while; I had three meetings on the road almost back-to-back. But the bigger issue was a problem with the reminders on my calendar, but it’s all fixed and life goes on.
I really enjoyed the meetings out on the road in Kansas City, MO, Cookeville, TN and Edmonton, Canada. These are trusted leaders I have worked with for years. Two of them are Bible School graduates who are fulfilling their call. They are the fruit of your giving!
This year I’m going to do something different at World Changers Weekend by opening it up to others. This annual event is a gift to our World Changer Family but I feel in my heart the content in these meetings is crucial to a person becoming a World Changer as a way of life – especially with the content for this year! In other words, if we can change their world they will change the world around them!
I remember when I first came up with the concept of World Changers. It really wasn’t just a new name for our partners; it was about people having the fruit of grace in their life. I began seeing a trend in the “Grace Movement” long before it became the mess it is today. I saw people twisting grace as a means to live fruitless, compromised lives. It was so grieving for me I could hardly stand it!
This is the verse that God used to speak to me about creating a “world changers” concept. We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace (Col. 1:3-6, NLT).
According to this passage these people didn’t abandon faith when they discovered grace. They understood what Paul said all along: every aspect of salvation is received by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). Then he pointed out that in their lives, as well as in the lives of everyone who heard and understood the truth about grace, it always bears fruit! Grace doesn’t make a person run wild, commit sin, and live a compromised life! In other words, grace was the means whereby the world would be changed.
I was never interested in just having partners. As you know I have never manipulated people to give through fear, legalism, or false claims about how God would respond to you if you gave to our ministry. I didn’t want to be surrounded by people with codependent, selfish motives. I wanted to be surrounded by those who really wanted to change the world… And that’s what we have! We have a family of people who want to change the way the world sees God and usher in the return of the Lord Jesus. We are a family of people seeking to grow in grace, character, love, and intimacy with our Father!
Jesus told His disciples, But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it (Matt. 13:16-17). Well, this statement is still true. Sadly, it isn’t just true of the Old Testament prophets; it’s true of New Testament believers. For the last 2000 years most of the saints have never heard what you have heard. Most of the Church world is laboring under false concepts of God. They need to know what you know!
So this year I encourage you to bring guests with you. Even though this is a special meeting for you, we need to influence more people in this life with God! Many of your closest friends don’t know what really happened from the cross to the throne. They don’t understand how to relate to the Old Testament sacrifices and what that tells us about Jesus. They don’t understand how faith and grace must be combined to experience all the promises of God. The list for what they don’t understand could go on for pages, but you know and you can help them! This year we are going to talk about The Most Important Things. We will have several speakers including Allen Speegle, Clint Byars, Bob & Audrey Meisner, Jimmie Bratcher, and me. I believe this will be one of the most powerful and informative World Changers Weekends we’ve ever had. Plus, we’ll have great worship and fellowship! Although there is no registration fee we need for you to register so we can manage the space. If you haven’t registered be sure to do so today. But please, if you register and later change your mind or something comes up to prohibit you attending, let us know. We only have a limited amount of space!
I hope you’ll meditate on the reality of the treasure you have through the messages you hear! If the entire Christian world knew and believed what you know we would change the world over night!
Blessings,
Jim
