Ten Million for Christ is Celebrating!
by Gerry Blitz
This year Ten Million for Christ celebrated its second anniversary. In July we celebrated the Lord’s goodness in a corporate gathering. So, for this post, we at TMFC want to take time to thank the Lord and proclaim his goodness!
The book of Joshua recounts the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River and entering the promised land. You can read the full story in Joshua 3 and 4, but I want to focus on a few points here. God performed an amazing miracle by stopping the raging river when the priests entered the water. After everyone crossed over on dry ground, the Lord commanded Joshua to have the 12 appointed men each take a stone from the middle of river to use as a memorial for future generations. The Lord intended the stones as a reminder to future generations of his mighty and miraculous provisions so that they might fear him. With that in mind, I would like to recount the goodness of the Lord as a reminder of his provision in situations where we could not have succeeded on our own. We have much to be thankful for!
As I write this, Jeremy is on the second of three trips to Romania this year. He and Keith Yoder, Ten Million for Christ Board Chair, are laying the foundations for TMFC teams by inviting people to partner with us to build teams that are active year-round in Romania. In 2018, during the first trip after Ten Million for Christ was launched, Jeremy and Duval Denlinger reestablished relationships Jeremy made long ago. The Lord breathed new life into dormant friendships, paving the way to actively partner with churches in Galati as we have this year. The Leaman family ministry trip last summer followed up with more service and ministry in Romania and cemented old friendships even as new ones were formed.
This spring, Jeremy and I were able to activate one of the key ministry strategies for impacting the business world by hosting leadership and business development seminars in three cities across Romania. The Lord worked amazingly to bring together churches and individuals to make the seminars happen. In the wonderful mix of people who attended, we were able to identify couples and individuals who share our passion for evangelism and want to impact their cities and business communities. We believe that many future TMFC team members will be born out of these groundbreaking events. The Lord’s faithfulness was evident on this trip as he sustained us and gave us the words to say to connect with our audiences.
There is also another trip planned – for September 11-19! Jeremy, along with TMFC board member and prayer team coordinator Janice Baldauf, will be leading a prayer team to spend over a week on the ground in Romania. They will spend time soaking Galati and Cluj in prayer, encouraging ministry and business leaders, conducting prayer walks and treasure hunts, as well as, ministering to the hurt and broken. Team members, Alyssa Waite, James Richter, Lydia Landis, Mike Ingold, and Nancy Eberly will be standing together with our partners in each city asking for God to pour out his Holy Spirit and bring revival. We are trusting God that this trip will be groundbreaking and have results that will be felt for generations to come.
Here in the States, TMFC has also felt God’s provision and goodness. We have witnessed time and again that God, “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20-21). This year we hosted our Second Annual Men’s Breakfast. God moved mightily on the hearts of the men there, and as a result, we were able to greatly reduce an operating deficit.
The Summer Ministry Campaign was kicked off with the Day of Giving in June. We were overwhelmed with the response. Our goal was to raise $25,000 to fund activities in Romania, including introducing our first two coaches with the John Maxwell program; to cover a portion of the prayer team mission trip cost; and to increase staff hours. Jeremy’s dream was to see $30,000 invested in the Kingdom work TMFC is doing. In true Ephesians 3:20-21 style, we saw God go above even that dream! In the end, over $33,000 was invested into the work we are doing. This included numerous matching gifts and many new partners. As a result of the Day of Giving and an additional generous partnership, I am able to join TMFC on staff one day a week!
We are also planning our second Women’s Luncheon on Saturday, August 17. The Lord has blessed us with an amazing location to host this event. We’re hoping to gather a hundred or more women to enjoy beautiful food and fellowship with other women and to hear Donna Shuler, President of Shalom Services, bring a message called “Born Free!”.
The final event this year is our Second Annual Flag Football Tournament and Chicken BBQ. Last year we were amazed at how God brought together planners, players, and partners to make this all-day event a success. Through this event, TMFC’s vision was spread widely through the community and we made many new ministry friends.
Please join us in celebration and thanksgiving as we declare, as Psalms 100:8 says, “The Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”! Please also join with us in continual prayer for the Holy Spirit to be poured out in Romania and America, brining many millions to Christ.