Strength and encouragement.
The tagline for the 2014 initiative of My Hope with Billy Graham is “Simply Share Jesus.”
But the ultimate mission for this outreach to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom is to help build up local church pastors, encouraging them to be bold and creative in their mission to share the eternal hope of the Gospel.
“My Hope’s goal is to do just one thing,” My Hope Vice President Steve Rhoads said. “To encourage and strengthen the church to present the Gospel.
“To simply share Jesus with the community that they’re in.”
Throughout this year, Rhoads and other My Hope team members have been meeting with church pastors on both sides of the Atlantic in an effort to give them a boost in their evangelistic efforts. And to give them a free resource to help them along the way.
That tool in the U.S. and Canada is a new 30-minute program called Heaven, which is launching Nov. 7, the date of Billy Graham’s 96th birthday. More than 10,000 U.S. churches are engaged in My Hope 2014, with more than 100,000 Heaven DVDs already shipped out from BGEA’s distribution center.
“We’re anticipating tens of thousands of churches that will preach the Gospel and see people come to Christ, beginning November 7,” Rhoads said.
In the U.K., a British version of The Cross—seen by millions in the U.S. last year—is being distributed to the 8,000-plus churches that have already engaged with My Hope as a way to share the hope of Christ to the surrounding neighborhoods of each congregation.
“We’ve made a very serious effort to find every single pastor in every single church in the country that we can get to, that’s willing to preach the Gospel,” Rhoads said.
“There are churches in Madison, Wisconsin, and in the suburbs of Seattle and in Austin, Texas, and near Liverpool, England and in Cardiff, Wales that are in certain communities that we can’t reach.”
But Rhoads knows there are people in every community in these three countries who can make a serious impact for the Kingdom. Hence, the simple offer to partner with My Hope—show a short film, filled with a powerful message from Mr. Graham, weaved around real-life stories of people who have found eternal hope—and then offer the free gift of salvation to anyone willing to call upon the name of Jesus.
One of the goals of My Hope, as Rhoads explains it is “to get the people in the church to pray for friends, neighbors, colleagues, business associates, whoever, people that they know, their circle of influence, and to bring them along to an evangelistic outreach.”
Rhoads knows all communities and congregations are different and is quick not to offer any formula on how to best use the My Hope video catalog that also includes Defining Moments, Lose to Gain and Momentos Decisivos. Some churches have already used 2013 My Hope videos during fall festivals to spread the Gospel, while others are planning on events at local theatres and ice cream shops.
But whether it’s in a church building, at a public venue or in the privacy of one’s living room, the only directive Rhoads and the My Hope team have to the local church is this—“do something to share the Gospel.”
“Think creatively,” Rhoads added. “But be bold. Lovingly go after people, pray for them and invite them in. And preach the Gospel. And stand up at the end and say ‘Would you like to receive Christ?’ It’s just that simple.”
