We didn't have any choice but to believe God.
My wife, Elizabeth, and I, had joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1967, after sensing that God wanted us to leave the family furniture business in Birmingham, Ala.
After we had served for only 18 months, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade, asked us to take over the Asian ministry. His request was totally out of the blue. I had only been a Christian for 3 and half years and knew very little about mission work, nor had I been to Asia. Yet Elizabeth and I accepted the offer.
So we moved to the Philippines along with our 2 children. At the time there were about 90 staff members in 9 countries. After 6 months, we were down to 50 staff members in 5 countries. I don't think they liked their new leader very much-the ministry was going through some changes.
After praying and studying flip charts, we set a goal to have more than 12,000 Asian staff members in 9 years. That meant we would need to double the number of staff members each year. We had to trust God to do the impossible.
God doubled the number of staff members each year, for the next four years, to 800. He was doing the impossible. Fortunately, He changed the plan-we were going crazy trying to handle all of the growth.
The ministry continued to prosper. During our 13 years in Asia, God helped us raise up more than 2,000 Asian staff members, including some key leaders.
Looking back, it's amazing to see what God did. We were doing everything in our power to make the growth happen, but fully realized that only God could make it happen.
Believing God for the impossible means that you believe Him to do something that in no way you could accomplish in the energy of the flesh. God is in the miracle business and He wants us to believe Him for big things, not just ordinary things. And it starts with praying, “Here I am. What do You want me to do?”
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