Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - January 2009 Prayer Update

Dear Friend,

A new year should begin with some good news - and I've got some. Especially for a valued spiritual partner like you who has a heart for the millions without Christ.

For many years, there's been a heavy burden on my heart. I know it's heavy on Jesus' heart, too. He grieves because "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few" (Matthew 9:37 ). But as this new year begins, I'm finally holding in my hand something that could make a powerful difference. And it can help change the eternities of countless lost men and women.

There's an incident I watched unfold at Ocean City, New Jersey years ago that embodies where the hope is for millions of lost lives. As our friend Julie was strolling the Boardwalk one night, she heard the cry of a drowning woman from the ocean nearby. Within moments, she had plunged into the dark Atlantic to rescue that woman - in spite of her fear of the ocean at night. When I asked her why she disregarded her fears of going in, she said, "Because I knew someone would die if I didn't."

Every believer within reach of a lost person is in the same place Julie was in - they're positioned to be the difference between a person living and dying, forever. The passion of this ministry is to help millions of believers go in for the rescue. Imagine how many more could be in heaven with us if that happened! God has assigned every believer a stretch of the beach - where they work, where they live, where they go to school, where they relax. We're divinely positioned to "rescue those who are being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11 ). But tragically, most Christians don't understand the eternal reason they are where they are. They seldom, if ever, talk about their Jesus. So, countless lost people go into a Christless eternity, knowing a Christian, but never hearing what Christ did for them.

And that's what has broken my heart for so long. God's made my life a laboratory for learning how to attract lost people to Jesus - people with little interest in Him. When I've had opportunity to communicate to believers the "want to" and the "how to" for rescuing the people they know, God's really honored it. People who have never felt they could effectively share Christ say, "I could do this." Everyday believers start going in for the rescue. And eternities are changed.

Feeling responsible to get it to a lot more lives, I put it in writing in the form of my book, A Life That Matters. But now we stand on the edge of something much bigger - something we believe could help launch a rescue revolution! It's the A Life That Matters video training, designed to be used in the thousands of Sunday

School classes and small groups Christians are in every week. It's also a tool families can use to become a lifesaving family!

For 13 weeks, I can come to a small group - maybe like the one you're in - and share the passion and the plan for helping people you know be in heaven with you someday. It's exciting to see what happens when a community of everyday believers starts together on the journey to join Jesus in His rescue mission. As a friend who prays and gives to makes this ministry possible, you're partnering in two life-saving missions: rescuing the dying and mobilizing an army of rescuers. Now, with your help, we can go right to where Christians are with training that has been proven to turn everyday believers into spiritual rescuers.

First, I want to urge you to order the A Life That Matters group study for your family or small group. Nothing would thrill me more than to know that the ministry you've helped make possible was reaching right into your personal world.

Secondly, I want to ask you to consider a much-needed gift to this ministry this month. It's been a tough few months for us, and we've cut everything we can without affecting the core of our mission. Now, we're entering what is historically the leanest part of the year.

So, your gift now - like a cup of water in a time of droughtwould mean more than ever. We're praying for the kind of miracle that will enable us to get this rescue training into as many lives as possible. And to go to many more lost hearts through our rescue Websites, strategic rescue events, and ongoing pioneer outreach to Native America.

We hold in our hands the "match" that could light the fi re of millions of believers going in for the rescue on their stretch of the beach. We need your help to get it out of our hands and into theirs. Because "how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?" (Romans 10:14 - NLT). Every lost person deserves the same chance we had - a chance at Jesus and a chance at heaven. Together, we can help give them that chance.

Trusting a big God for something only He could do,

Ron Hutchcraft

P.S. - To order your A Life That Matters Individual or Small Group Kits fill out your response card or go online to www.ALifeThatMatters.org.

A Life That Matters Small Group Kit includes:
11 - A Life That Matters books, 10 - A Life That Matters guidebooks, 10 - Yours For Life tracts, Yours For Life cards, and 1 - DVD Video Curriculum

A Life That Matters Family or Individual Kit includes: (1 each of the following)
A Life That Matters book, A Life That Matters guidebook, Yours For Life tract, Yours For Life card, and a DVD Video Curriculum