One Man's Amazing Fruit

One Man's Amazing Fruit Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit(John 15:5).

Dear friends: It is utterly amazing what God can do through one person's obedience, and how He can supernaturally multiply our efforts and giving, just as He did with the loaves and fishes. Several years ago I met a young man of modest means who had heard about our Here's Life World strategy at the time to help fulfill the Great Commission. This young man felt impressed to "adopt" the country of Thailand. We needed about $75,000 for the Here's Life campaign in Thailand. This man proceeded to sell a piece of property, for which he received almost that amount. Even though this gift represented most of his savings, he felt impressed of God to pick up the entire cost for that country with the money from the sale. This enabled volunteers of the Here's Life campaign in Thailand to take the gospel to cities, villages and hamlets throughout the country. Sometime later I was went on a speaking tour of several Asian countries, including Thailand. While there I was able to see firsthand the results of that earlier campaign. I was privileged to speak at the dedication service of 258 Thais who had committed themselves to further take the gospel to millions of their countrymen. They were showing the "JESUS" film throughout their country of 48 million people. This all began through the obedient stewardship and sacrificial giving of one American who helped launch Here's Life, Thailand. God used this story of dedication to inspire several men to give to help fulfill the Great Commission in other countries through Here's Life World. Equally important, the young man's investment had, by 1989, helped to introduce more than 1,300,000 people to Christ, set up more than 18,000 New Life Groups in homes and start 3,338 churches. No doubt, since 1989, the tally would be many times that. It is probable that apart from that young man's original investment, much of the spiritual harvest now taking place in Asia would not have been possible. "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.' So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten" (John 6:9-11, NIV). Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns, Bill Bright The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, "JESUS," which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Visitcampuscrusade.comfor more details Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. However, readers may copy and distribute this message as desired, without restrictions in number, as long as the content is not altered. Forwarding this e-mail to friends is encouraged. For many evangelistic and spiritual growth materials, visit the Campus Crusade for Christ Web site atccci.org. Seecampuscrusade.comfor Bill Bright's own materials.