Sunday, December 19, 2010

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

Volume 5, Issue 10
Jesus is the Reason for the Season

As the holiday season approaches our schedules and our thoughts are filled with many things.  From Christmas musicals at churches, to Christmas parties, to Christmas lights, to Christmas presents – our lives can get so busy and distracted.


And yet at the core of it all was the birth of a little baby.  Hank Hanegraaff writes in his devotional for the Season- The Heart of Christmas; The reason we rejoice at Christmas is that the Baby born to Mary and Joseph on the first Advent was no ordinary child.  As Matthew records, this s Baby was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of Immanuel- “God is with us” (Matthew 1:22-23).


It is the birth of Jesus that is at the core of our ministry with Keynote as well.  Here are some of the things we have seen this last year at Keynote:
  • 38,761 people heard the gospel through Keynote outreaches. 
  • 1,722 people indicated a first-time decision to trust Christ and begin a new relationship with God.
  • Music teams went to Spain, Turkey, Colombia, and Romania. 
  • Training and networking in Hungary and Singapore.
  • New Media Labs recently posted a step-by-step guide for online ministry and created the “God Tools” iPhone app (more than 7,000 downloads in the first three months).
  • Since July, http://mediaforministry.org has seen close to 5000 visits from 111 countries.
  • Our first professional film shoot (for Steve Douglass’ Essentials Bible Study project); it's in the editing room right now.
  • Keynote hosted our first “Communication Lab” in April with specialized communication training for Campus Crusade staff.
  • Developing relationships with military and prisons.
  • Keynote Connection Blog—In the past four months we’ve had 2,452 visitors from 51 countries
  • For Winter / Spring 2011, artists will be going to Slovenia, Spain, El Salvador, and Egypt.
  • For Winter / Spring 2011, Keynote communication training team headed to Guatemala. 
 
The Lord has blessed us with an early gift.  Leslie is 13 weeks pregnant!  She is due in June. We are truly blessed and excited about this miracle.   
Prayer Requests:
  • Safety in traveling Christmas day to Atlanta for the IMPACT conference we are working.
  • God would work mightily in the hearts of 2,500+ multicultural students attending the conference. (Dec. 27th– 30)

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