They that wait upon the Lord ...
Financial crisis impacts ministry
In the city of Yei, Southern Sudan, thousands upon thousands of people lifted their hands as a sign of desiring to surrender their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ each night during the three-day evangelistic outreach there in 2008. Pastors and leaders within East Africa say no less than 100,000 souls committed their lives to Christ during Worldwide Crusades’ outreach last year.
By JOHN BUTTERWORTH
Looking back at the calendar, the year 2008 proved to be the busiest year ever for Worldwide Crusades. While those of us working for and partnering with WWC have become accustomed to transitions from one budget cycle to the next, none of us were prepared for the financial situation we now face. Right now, this year looks as though it could end up being our least busy year in a long time.
But God tells us in Isaiah 40:31 that those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, mount up with wings of eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Therefore we look forward to just what God has in store for Worldwide Crusades for the remainder of 2009 and on into 2010, because at this point in time we are left waiting on the Lord.
2008
In January, WWC president Bill Smith and a team headed off for evangelistic outreaches in the nations of Uganda, Tanzania and the war-torn region of Kenya. February found Smith and some teens heading off to Nicaragua for a youth conference. In March, he and a team of women headed to Uganda for a time of ministering and learning about Ugandan orphanages. A second month-long evangelistic outreach in July had Smith and another team traveling to two cities in Southern Sudan, and two cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Journeys in September and December took Smith and a small team of Alsea Christian Fellowship TV technicians to Honduras to brainstorm for improvements on WWC’s “Outreach” program, as well as do some smaller scale evangelism and check up on building projects underway.
In November, John and Bev Butterworth headed out for a five-week teaching schedule reaching nine cities in seven nations of East Africa, returning Christmas Day.
2009
This year has started slowly, and with the human eye there seems to be no forecast for increasing Worldwide Crusade activity in the foreseeable future. With WWC’s major contributors being greatly impacted by the world’s financial crisis, WWC has received no assurance of receiving the kind of funds that have been required to fulfill the last couple years accomplishments.
We serve a great and living God, who is well able to provide for the needs of the organizations He creates to advance His kingdom, so we rest and wait upon the Lord. In the meantime we do what we can with what we have.
In January, Smith and Sisters, Oregon pastor Frank Fraga traveled to Honduras for a week of preaching and teaching, taking some time to check up on building projects proposed for this spring, as well as dedicating a new church facility built with WWC funds.
On March 19, a team of church-facility builders left for Honduras to complete one church building project and continue work on a longer-term project of building a Bible college facility. The team is comprised of members of numerous Willamette Valley and Alsea area churches, and the team itself raised the funds for the outreach. WWC has provided funding for the construction projects as agreed upon last year.
While the current financial status of Worldwide Crusades required cutting back office staff hours, it also required discontinuing broadcasting the “Outreach” television program on the Russian satellite aimed at all Russian-speaking people north of the equator. This turns out to be an unwelcome but necessary decision. Nonetheless, WWC remains committed to broadcasting its program on the Honduran Jesus Broadcasting Network, which continues to grow in size, outreach and depth of the Word of God. JBN recently acquired three U.S. stations broadcasting bilingual programs, so “Outreach” may soon be seen in the States in four major cities.
Our readers and supporters are encouraged to pray for Worldwide Crusades, for continued finances to do the work He has called us to do, and for the many brothers and sisters around the world who have joined in the last-days harvest of souls with Worldwide Crusades. They remain committed to reaching their nations with or without WWC help, which is a true sign of maturity within the church in those lands.
We recognize that the vast majority of people in our nation and others are facing an uncertainty of their future as never before. We only ask that if God speaks to your heart about starting to support, continuing to support, or increasing support for Worldwide Crusades, please obey God.
We are committed to continuing to fulfill the command of Christ to go into all the world and preach the gospel, even if it means returning to the days when we worked in the timber industry full time and then used those finances to reach out to the world just once or twice a year.
But we believe God has better plans, so please pray with us for Worldwide Crusades and the great harvest field of the world.