Today, I look at this picture and my mind is filled with so many incredible memories of 2023. Holly and I celebrated 27 years of marriage! Lynnlee (12), Levi (14), and Silas (17) gave us opportunities to cheer them on in many, many volleyball, basketball, and soccer games! Rylee (20) excelled in her sophomore year at Texas Baptist College and began to work with an apartment ministry in Fort Worth. Shaelee (22) graduated with her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree…AT THE SAME TIME (I wish that was a “thing” when I was in Seminary!). Abe, Shaelee’s husband, juggled both working for Samaritan’s Purse and landing the lead role in Irving Outdoor Music Theater’s rendition of The Music Man.
But, as last year came to an end, my attention wasn’t captivated by any of these good gifts my Heavenly Father poured out on my life and family in 2023. Instead…I felt stressed. I ended 2023 lamenting that my inability to effectively prioritize had resulted in my “to-do list” significantly leaking into what I had hoped would be a relaxing time off. I felt as if I had robbed myself of my own “vacation!” Been there?
As for Reach Out, last year was an amazing year of growth and expansion!
- We started training leaders online in Pakistan for the first time.
- Indigenous leadership training in Liberia really took off!
- We were able to return to Cuba for the first time since the pandemic.
- We started training youth leaders in Belize.
- We completed JFYM translations in Hindi and Kirundi.
- Ukrainian became the fifth language added to our online platform.
- Thousands of leaders globally were trained.
- Many churches were planted.
- Students were saved and discipled all over the world by JFYM trained pastors, youth leaders, and parents.
- Existing financial partners faithfully gave and new financial partners began the journey of joining us in this ministry to reach young people with the gospel all over the world.
It was a very good year!
And yet…as the year ended…rather than focusing on all those ministry “wins,” I was captivated by the frustrating and surprising reality that a few previously faithful foundations either stopped giving to Reach Out or reduced their financial support. And at the end of the year, the loss of those gifts had dominated my perspective.
Cue God’s wake-up call to my soul...
In the final reading of the year of Oswald Chamber’s, My Utmost for His Highest, he writes:
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“But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.” |
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I found these words to be incredibly powerful and healing…because of the challenge they presented to both my own life and to this ministry…to stop looking backward at “lost opportunities” and instead, have a “constructive thoughtfulness for the future.” What great words to ponder as we enter the new year. Why? Because it’s so easy to wallow in “what could have been” and fail to fully embrace what God is doing in the “here and now!”
Perspective changed!
Now as I look at these pics from 2023, they remind me of an amazing year of God’s grace, power, love, and provision. What a year! Friends, we have an enemy who is always working to steal, kill, and destroy. But God! It is because of Him that our joy will not be stolen in 2024. The enemy will not kill the dreams God has placed in our hearts for our future. The mission and vision God has given this ministry will not be destroyed. Instead, may we choose to focus on the Giver of Life (John 10:10)…the One who gives good gifts (Matthew 7:11).
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Ephesians 3:16-21
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long
and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
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Will you join me in praying that passage in Ephesians for our lives as well as for this ministry…as I believe that God will indeed do “immeasurably more” than you or I could ask or imagine in 2024.
This year, Reach Out Youth Solutions will continue doing what we have been doing for almost 48 years…equipping and multiplying leaders around the world who are reaching the next generation with the gospel.
Thank you for partnering with us in this journey, as we step out into the “invincible future with Him.”
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If you would like to become a financial partner today, you can click here. |
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We invite you to pray for Reach Out in specific ways by scrolling down to our monthly prayer requests or you can print them below. |
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Randy Riggins, President
Reach Out Youth Solutions
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