Post by Richard on Apr 3, 2006 8:48:12 GMT -5
Decade of Grace, by Phil Ware
Ten Years Later!
Heartlight officially launched on April 3, 1996 without advertising
or fanfare. This month, we celebrate the past ten years and thank
those who have helped us along the way. In conjunction with this
tenth anniversary, Phil has also launched a blog and you are
invited to share the conversation and leave a comment or two.
It's been a decade of grace!
Wow, I can still remember the first time I heard the word decade. I
wasn't even ten years old. At that time, a decade seemed like forever.
But for me, the last ten years has been a decade of grace!
A decade ago, I had just started wearing bifocals. Now I have to have
special glasses for computer work and they have to have bifocals, too.
A decade ago I had two kids at home and life was busy with the stuff of
parenting -- sports and teenager stuff. And decade ago, exactly to the
day -- April 3, 1996 -- Paul Lee and I launched Heartlight. It's been a
decade of grace!
We had no idea what we were doing -- we probably haven't changed all
that much in that area -- we only knew that we were supposed to do the
"Heartlight thing" to faithfully answer the call of God. Paul was a
graphic designer and I had written short spots for the radio and I had
a couple of friends who had other similar content -- thanks Randy
Becton and Paul Faulkner for sharing. So God put Paul and me together.
Six months prior to that day ten years ago in April, we had not even
known each other. It's been a decade of grace.
I still remember watching the traffic numbers those first few months
hoping we would get fifty or sixty visitors per week. Then as web
traffic picked up, we started hoping and praying that we would get to
50,000 page views by the end of the year -- we got there with a little
extra change. Now a decade later, God has blessed us with 3.7 million
page views per month. It's been a decade of grace!
In those first few months of Heartlight, a group of Christians who
homeschooled their children in Australia found us. Our traffic jumped
up significantly almost over night. Since then, God has expanded our
community to over 175 nations of the world. We've heard heart-wrenching
and heart-warming stories from all over the planet. God has expanded
our concept of Kingdom significantly. It's been a decade of grace!
With the help of a longtime and respected friend, Dennis Downing, we
were able to launch a Portuguese parallel to Heartlight, called
Iluminalma.com.br. Dennis' work has been remarkable, faithful, and
fruitful. It's been a decade of grace!
We recently began a first step into Spanish, laluzdelama.com, with the
help of friends and ministry partners, Jack and Beatrice Walker. We
anticipate launching a Heartlight in German in January of 2007 with the
help of Bill Wilson -- a new friend, fishing buddy, and long-time
Christian servant in Cologne. We are waiting for some financial support
so we can launch a Russian version, Heartlight.ru, with the help of
Dennis Podryadchikov. Dennis is a young Russian ministry student and
father who is working on his graduate Bible degree. While working on
his degree, Dennis is also helping Russian immigrants and streaming
sermons via the Internet into Russia to share Christ with his fellow
Russian citizens. To work and partner with such people is a great gift.
It's been a decade of grace!
Which brings me to you! Yep, I'm talking to you -- the person reading
this article. People like you, from all over the world, from all sorts
of backgrounds, have been brought together on the Internet by one
common denominator -- we've been blessed by the grace of God! Yes, it's
been a decade of grace.
So we come to you and say, "Thanks be to God!" We also want to say,
"Thanks!" to you as well. Please keep us in your prayers. Let us know
how we can continue to grow and improve. If you feel touched by God, we
could use your continuing support. Most of all, we ask that you pray
for our protection and health. We need you to ask for God's provision
for Heartlight and continued blessing for us. We hope that you will
continue to pray for our spiritual wisdom so we can know the direction
the Lord is leading us. Finally, we genuinely ask you to request that
God will be honored and His children worldwide will be blessed.
Hopefully, as the Lord wills, in another ten years we can to come to
you and say once again, "It's been a decade of grace!"
With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than
anything we can ask or think of. To him be glory in the church and
in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians
3:14-21 ERV)
Ten Years Later!
Heartlight officially launched on April 3, 1996 without advertising
or fanfare. This month, we celebrate the past ten years and thank
those who have helped us along the way. In conjunction with this
tenth anniversary, Phil has also launched a blog and you are
invited to share the conversation and leave a comment or two.
It's been a decade of grace!
Wow, I can still remember the first time I heard the word decade. I
wasn't even ten years old. At that time, a decade seemed like forever.
But for me, the last ten years has been a decade of grace!
A decade ago, I had just started wearing bifocals. Now I have to have
special glasses for computer work and they have to have bifocals, too.
A decade ago I had two kids at home and life was busy with the stuff of
parenting -- sports and teenager stuff. And decade ago, exactly to the
day -- April 3, 1996 -- Paul Lee and I launched Heartlight. It's been a
decade of grace!
We had no idea what we were doing -- we probably haven't changed all
that much in that area -- we only knew that we were supposed to do the
"Heartlight thing" to faithfully answer the call of God. Paul was a
graphic designer and I had written short spots for the radio and I had
a couple of friends who had other similar content -- thanks Randy
Becton and Paul Faulkner for sharing. So God put Paul and me together.
Six months prior to that day ten years ago in April, we had not even
known each other. It's been a decade of grace.
I still remember watching the traffic numbers those first few months
hoping we would get fifty or sixty visitors per week. Then as web
traffic picked up, we started hoping and praying that we would get to
50,000 page views by the end of the year -- we got there with a little
extra change. Now a decade later, God has blessed us with 3.7 million
page views per month. It's been a decade of grace!
In those first few months of Heartlight, a group of Christians who
homeschooled their children in Australia found us. Our traffic jumped
up significantly almost over night. Since then, God has expanded our
community to over 175 nations of the world. We've heard heart-wrenching
and heart-warming stories from all over the planet. God has expanded
our concept of Kingdom significantly. It's been a decade of grace!
With the help of a longtime and respected friend, Dennis Downing, we
were able to launch a Portuguese parallel to Heartlight, called
Iluminalma.com.br. Dennis' work has been remarkable, faithful, and
fruitful. It's been a decade of grace!
We recently began a first step into Spanish, laluzdelama.com, with the
help of friends and ministry partners, Jack and Beatrice Walker. We
anticipate launching a Heartlight in German in January of 2007 with the
help of Bill Wilson -- a new friend, fishing buddy, and long-time
Christian servant in Cologne. We are waiting for some financial support
so we can launch a Russian version, Heartlight.ru, with the help of
Dennis Podryadchikov. Dennis is a young Russian ministry student and
father who is working on his graduate Bible degree. While working on
his degree, Dennis is also helping Russian immigrants and streaming
sermons via the Internet into Russia to share Christ with his fellow
Russian citizens. To work and partner with such people is a great gift.
It's been a decade of grace!
Which brings me to you! Yep, I'm talking to you -- the person reading
this article. People like you, from all over the world, from all sorts
of backgrounds, have been brought together on the Internet by one
common denominator -- we've been blessed by the grace of God! Yes, it's
been a decade of grace.
So we come to you and say, "Thanks be to God!" We also want to say,
"Thanks!" to you as well. Please keep us in your prayers. Let us know
how we can continue to grow and improve. If you feel touched by God, we
could use your continuing support. Most of all, we ask that you pray
for our protection and health. We need you to ask for God's provision
for Heartlight and continued blessing for us. We hope that you will
continue to pray for our spiritual wisdom so we can know the direction
the Lord is leading us. Finally, we genuinely ask you to request that
God will be honored and His children worldwide will be blessed.
Hopefully, as the Lord wills, in another ten years we can to come to
you and say once again, "It's been a decade of grace!"
With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than
anything we can ask or think of. To him be glory in the church and
in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians
3:14-21 ERV)
