As this new year gets underway for everyone, I want to share some goals for Damascus Road Ministries in 2008. I want each of you to know how much I appreciate every single prayer you offer up for this ministry and for me! There are days that I can tangibly feel them.
As some of you know, we have promoted several events in the past including Camp Damascus, the Damascus Winter Conference, Damascus Fall in Cheraw, and the Damascus Worship Rally. This past November we took our inaugural mission adventure to Romania and saw God do some amazing things. In total, 111 people gave their hearts to Jesus through the ministries of DRM in 2007! Only God can do that and HE and ONLY HE deserves all the praise! Of those decisions, just over 70% were made at Camp Damascus and during Mission Romania.
Chuck Bridges shared a quote with me from Bill Hybels recently. Hybels said, “Always bring your best self to your most important work” (paraphrase). This is a challenge to focus on what we do best and never let distractions interfere with the primary objective. My desire as a minister of the gospel and for Damascus Road Ministries is to see people come to know Christ! This is our most important work!
We have decided to focus our efforts on the part of the ministry that has yielded the greatest fruit in terms of people meeting Jesus. We have walked through each door as God has opened it and will continue to do so. We will constantly and consistently evaluate where we are as it relates to people meeting Jesus. To this point, God has touched more lives through Camp Damascus and our missions focus than anything else. Therefore, we will place all of our emphasis as a ministry on those two areas: Camp Damascus and missions.
I am excited about this change for a couple of reasons. First, I have watched people who are far from God be brought near to God in great ways through these ministries – and I believe he is just getting started! Second, this allows for greater focus in the areas where God is already doing the greatest work – and this means that we can give more of our best selves to our most important work.
Thank you for your prayers and support. I am continuing to preach and lead worship on an itinerant basis. In fact, I will be with Clearview Baptist Church for this weekend coming up for their D-Now. We are looking toward the future and are working on bringing someone on board to focus on promoting Camp Damascus and our mission projects to a broader audience. Please continue to pray for us and I will keep you posted on all the great things God is doing through DRM!
