We are so excited to share another example of how Jesus is touching hearts through YOUR MINISTRY.
As you know, we facilitated virtual small groups before it was cool. By 2019, your ministry had 9 groups actively meeting on-line every week. By 2022, we had 13 active groups sharing God together. In spring 2023, with a desire to go further, we asked our kids, Luciano & Julia (23 & 24 years old) “How do we meet your generation right where they are?” They responded, “TWITCH & DISCORD.” Maybe you have children or grandchildren who explained Twitch & Discord to you, but it was all new to us and we needed many tutorials. INNOVATIVE TRUTH wanted to get INNOVATIVE. Here’s the Reader’s Digest explanation; TWITCH is an on-line video platform where people set up “channels” to live stream while they play games or talk. Other users set up accounts to join the live feed and watch the streamers broadcast. Each channel has a live chat area where they interact. The streamer also sets up a DISCORD account where they can interact in the DISCORD messaging service when they are not live in their stream. If that sounded like gibberish to you…it did to us too. WHEWWW! It was like learning a whole new language. As St. Paul said, “…I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22 In November 2023, after joining other chats and sharing Christ, we established the Innovative Truth Discord channel. We invited TWITCH users to join us on our INNOVATIVE TRUTH ADVENT CHALLENGE. Beginning on December 1st, 17 people ranging in age from 14 to 65 joined us to read one chapter per day from the book of Luke. We concluded the challenge on Christmas Eve by completing the entire book of Luke. THIRTEEN of those people shared they had NEVER read the Bible before. We stayed active throughout January with the group and invited them last week to join the INNOVATIVE TRUTH LENTEN JOURNEY. ALL seventeen people are still present in our Discord channel. We started on Monday by talking about what Lent is and how it is another opportunity to deepen their new relationship with Christ. They ask questions and everyone can interact. We share a reflection each day and challenge them to spend time listening to God. How do we see God working through your ministry? Today we challenged them to consider what Ash Wednesday means and how the Cross is visible in their lives. We shared a photo of Luciano and Tonya with the Cross on their foreheads in ash. One of our new friends is currently working remotely in Japan. Aiden, 21 years old, is not yet a believer but was very active in our Advent Challenge. He blew us away with the message he shared with the group today (pictured below).
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