Sep
2
Written by:
Pastor Doug
9/2/2010 12:21 AM
An Amazing Fact: By the time the year 1800 rolled around, the United States was still a rural country. Fewer than six percent of its five million citizens lived in towns with more than 2,500 people. But today, about 80 percent of the United States lives in cities—and in 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population had migrated to a metropolis!
When you are in the city, it is simply impossible to miss all the confusion, congestion, and chaos that are in them. Well, that’s why for me—it’s not too strong to say that I “loathe” cities. (With one exception—the New Jerusalem!)
Yet I have seen more than my fair share of cities. I was raised in Miami and Manhattan. I’ve also been to every capital city in North America (except Bismarck, North Dakota) and a majority of the world’s great cities—Beijing, London, Moscow, Madrid, Mexico City, New Delhi, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto … just to name a few.
From Medellin, Colombia, to Cairo, I’ve had my fill of city living.
The Call of the Wild
About 35 years ago, my family purchased some land up in the mountains.
We built a comfortable cabin above a meadow, with spring water and solar power. There is nothing more I would like to do than permanently move us all up to our cabin.
In fact, I love the country. (Remember, I even lived in a cave!) Yet for the last 17 years, my family has been living in the capital of California. Why … if I hate cities?
Because I love people. And I love them because Jesus loved them so much that He suffered and died to save them. And right now, there is so much soul-winning work to be done in the cities, we need to move urgently because we are running out of time.
The Challenge of the Cities
Why are cities such a hotbed of evil?
It’s very simple: Most people in the world are lost, so wherever there is a concentration of sinners there will naturally be a concentration of sin. The good news is that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20).
Let’s face it: Doing evangelism in large cities can be especially difficult. With all the nonstop distractions and excitement, capturing people’s attention in Babylon requires extraordinary effort combined with the power of God.
But did you know that the Bible has lots to say about reaching the cities? In fact, it is the example of our Lord: “Jesus … departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities” (Matthew 11:1).
Jesus went to the cities, and so must we.
Salvation to the Cities
That is why Amazing Facts is launching our Salvation to the Cities program, which will begin with a special revival series in Los Angeles, from November 12 to 14.
This special outreach initiative is going to use every tool we have in our evangelism arsenal to reach cities for Christ. The centerpiece of this plan, however, is our brand-new Prophecy Foundations multimedia DVD.
This is a powerful tool that God can use to bring multitudes to Christ, and I’m confident that people who get it will want to watch it … and the Holy Spirit will bring a harvest through His Word. (Isaiah 55:11).
With all the videos and information packed onto it, Prophecy Foundations represents an entire evangelistic meeting you can hold in your hand. Plus, it weighs less than an ounce and is very easy to mail. That’s why this tool has the potential to help saturate the cities with salvation!
Here’s the Plan
Amazing Facts is prepared to donate all the programming on Prophecy Foundations so that countless thousands can know the truth. But we need your support to get them out the door and into homes.
The raw cost to copy and mail a DVD is only about $2. But when you multiply them by thousands, the cost adds up. So with your help, we’d like to get our cost down 50 percent so we can mail the DVDs for under a dollar apiece. Yes, your donation will help blanket the cities with salvation!
Here’s what we are going to do …
We’ll soon start offering this truth-packed DVD as a free gift through television, radio, and Internet ads targeted at people in the cities, so that we can begin to reach the masses through the media.
Then in November, we go to Los Angeles for an evangelism-training weekend, we’ll make Prophecy Foundations available for just .99 cents each for massive citywide distribution! This low price will make it affordable to individuals, churches, and Christian business owners who want to illuminate every home in their neighborhoods with the truth.
The DVDs can be given out door to door or mailed to all the sprawling neighborhoods. And you can do the same in your city!
We know efforts like work wherever we follow God’s will to reach cities—even internationally! From New Delhi, India, Rajeev writes,
“I’ve learned a lot about Jesus and the Bible through this course, which has helped me to experience a deeper relationship with Christ. I’ve decided to join the church by baptism. I’m in a Hindu family right now, but I want to convert to Christianity and become a part of Jesus’ remnant church.”
Stories like this are repeated hundreds of times in our office every week!
Proven Steps
Amazing Facts has a powerful plan ready to go—we just need to know that we have the backing of our friends who are committed to the mission of Jesus.
There are about 300 million people in the USA; 80 percent—that’s 240 million—of them live in the cities! Our modest goal right now is to reach just one percent of them … 2.4 million souls surrounded by the ravages and temptations of sin.
At 1$ per mailed DVD, that means we need $2.4 million dollars in the next two years to make this revival in the cities a reality!
And the truth is—we are only limited in our reach by what friends like you can envision in partnership with us. Think of it this way: $50 can help distribute 50 DVDs into 50 homes. $100 can help to distribute 100 DVDs to 100 families. You get the picture—a gift of $250 can help provide 250 DVDs to an entire community!
So I’m asking you to support our multimedia ministry today and month by month until this work is done. Whatever you can send, know that your gift this month, and every month, will be used to share the gospel in the most effective, practical way possible—into the biggest cities and the most desolate places.
Just as God had compassion on the people of Nineveh, He also loves the people of every major city of the world today. Let’s begin to reach them with urgency by bringing the love of Christ and Salvation to the Cities of the world.
Pastor Doug Batchelor