We Encourage People Everywhere to Keep Believing
August 7, 2009
We’ve given away thousands of these wristbands.
Here’s the fourth thing you need to know about KBM:
4. We encourage people everywhere to keep believing.
Sometimes it’s hard to keep believing.
I remember saying that–in an off-the-cuff manner at a KBM board meeting several years ago. It happened at the end of a planning retreat, as I was giving my final comments just before we left to go home. You know how it is at the end of any meeting. As you wait for the final person to finish, your mind tends to wander a bit. I could tell that was happening as I spoke. But when I said, “Sometimes it’s hard to keep believing,” every head suddenly turned, people dropped whatever they were doing, and all eyes were on me.
I said the unsayable, spoke what we all know to be true but rarely talk about. Sometimes it’s really, really, really hard to keep believing. I think our churches would be stronger if we just faced this fact, admitted it openly, and then began to find ways to help each other. Oftentimes those who struggle feel guilty if they say anything, worrying about what others will think of them.
When we chose the name of this ministry, we picked two of the most powerful words in the English language: Keep + Believing. The idea of “Keep Believing” pictures a soldier going back for a fallen comrade: “Keep Believing, Joe. We’re gonna get you out of here.” Or it pictures a young couple facing a major health crisis, surrounded by friends and family who say to them, “We’re standing with you no matter what.”
Here’s what this means in practical terms to us:
We’re a ministry of encouragement.
We’re building an online community where people can come for help.
We offer practical answers to the real problems faced by everyday people.
We don’t focus primarily on cultural or political issues.
We don’t push one denomination over another.
We offer lots of ways for people to contact us.
We try to connect people with each other for mutual encouragement online.
It’s one reason I do radio on a regular basis. A few days ago I spent an hour on the air with Tim Wildmon and Marvin Sanders talking about faith, healing, and praying for the sick. Along the way we touched on some deep mysteries concerning suffering and the sovereignty of God. It turned out to be a very uplifting hour of radio that felt like pastoral ministry over the airwaves.
And that’s why I’ve written 27 books, nearly all of them in the “Christian Living” category. The name of this ministry comes from one of my earliest books.
That’s also one reason I do lots of Bible conference ministry. Three weeks ago when I spoke at Elim Lodge in Ontario, I did my series on the life of Peter. What I didn’t know was that there was a lot going on behind the scenes that made that particular series extremely relevant for many people. Every day people said, “This was exactly what we needed to hear.” I didn’t know that in advance, but the Holy Spirit did, and he made the Word of God come alive in many hearts.
Since last October we’ve given thousands of our “Keep Believing” wristbands. When we started giving them out, I wondered if people would want them. Soon I discovered that we couldn’t keep them in stock. We just ordered another 3000 because we gave out 1500 during our three-week ministry trip in July.
“Keep believing” resonates in every heart because it’s a cold world out there. Most of us will struggle to believe at one time or another, some of us will struggle many times. Not very many breeze through life with an easy road and no struggles or stumbles. We all seem to have a crisis of faith sooner or later.
So that’s part of our mission–a big part. We want to help you keep believing. And by helping you, we help ourselves, because we’re all in this together. It’s a long road from here to heaven, and we all have to pass through “many dangers, toils and snares” to reach the Celestial City. We’ll make the journey a little easier if we walk together side by side, laughing together, talking together, weeping together, hanging out together, doing whatever it takes to help each other to keep believing.
That’s us. That’s our mission. That’s why we’re here.