Where is YOUR Treasure?

It’s marvelous to think of the souls that have been saved since the founding of this ministry by my father and mother more than 55 years ago. Each one of those souls is an eternal treasure. As Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).

I would rather accumulate souls in heaven than “things” on earth – wouldn’t you?

Streamlining our priorities is important these days when so many things compete for our attention and affections. I was reading a story about the famous basketball player, Kareem Abdul-Jabar earlier this year. He had just announced that he was going to sell off the extensive collection of NBA treasures he’d collected during his celebrated his career. When the news broke, people speculated that he was out of money, but that was far from the case. He simply had a change of heart . . . or you might say, a change of treasure.

Kareem valued those things, but about ten years ago, he founded a charitable organization to give kids better opportunities to learn science, technology, engineering and math. As it turns out, he values helping those kids more than he does his various awards, trophies and other memorabilia. He said, “When it comes to choosing between storing a championship ring or trophy in a room or providing kids with an opportunity to change their lives, the choice is pretty simple: Sell it all.”

There really is more than this life . . . and there is more TO this life. When we yield to God, and make our plans with God as our first priority, no matter what valley we may face or victory we may experience, we know He is with us as we are walking in His direction. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

I’m so grateful for friends like you—who treasure eternal things and have a heart to win the lost. With the help of your prayers and support, in the past year . . .

• 119,823 gospel tracts and other pieces of evangelistic literature were distributed.
• 51,690 individuals heard the Gospel during a one-on-one encounter.
• 14,014 people made decisions for Christ through various outreach programs.
• 2,851 people were baptized by Alpha Churches.
• 1,398 new villages were reached and church planting stations were established.
• 64 motorcycles were provided for our faithful Frontline Messengers.
• 12 new Living Water wells were built.
• 4 vehicles were given to frontline workers in partnership with Voice of the Martyrs.
• 3 sewing machines were provided through the Vital Project.

Even though the Lord doesn’t send everyone to the mission field, He does equip everyone to partner in the work of missions in some way. The testimony Pastor Nathan shared is a good example. He and his wife are VM1000 missionaries. The vision of our VM1000 ministry is to reach 1000 new villages with the Gospel each year throughout the 10/40 window. Pastor Nathan reached 10 new villages in the past year, where 482 souls heard the good news and 103 accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

In one village, Hemat, an eight-year old boy had been diagnosed with a hole in his heart that left him very weak and sickly. The church rallied around the boy and his family in prayer and fasting for two weeks. They saw an enormous change in Hemat’s energy levels that puzzled even his doctors. Witnessing this, Hemat, his parents, and grandparents became worshippers of Christ Jesus.

Thank you for partnering with Alpha Ministries to fulfill the great commission among the unreached and unengaged people groups throughout the 10/40 window!