Rarely do I utilize this forum to offer informational updates about the Transforming Truth ministry but I felt that today’s news could be a means to give praise to God for his hand of blessing. This ministry officially started in the Spring of 2005 with a weekly radio broadcast on an AM station in Atlanta. I did all of the editing in my office with some very elementary equipment and came in every Saturday morning while we were on the air and answered the phones by myself when listeners called in...all 9 of them over a six month period. Needless to say, I was uncertain that we were making a difference in our community but I felt that God wanted me to be faithful in continuing on through the six month agreement with the radio station so I did. At the end of the six months we chose not to renew the contract and assumed that the days of our media outreach beyond the walls of our church in Duluth (at that time) had concluded. About seven months later, all of that changed.
“I know that You can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted.” – Job 42:2 {ESV}
When our local Christian television station called to let me know that a longstanding Sunday morning broadcaster had given up their Sunday 11 AM slot, I was not overly engaged in the conversation. The station sales rep went on to tell me that it was a Baptist church which had left the slot open and that the station were hoping to retain that audience by filling the slot with another local Baptist church. I listened to his spiel and declined the offer without so much as a second thought. We didn’t have the money, we had no clue how to do television ministry and I was wary of getting into a genre of Christian ministry about which people had become highly skeptical. Me? A televangelist? Methinks it to be folly. The next day I arrived in my office for some morning prayer and during that time God convicted me that I had not even asked Him what His desire was concerning the previous day’s offer from the TV station. Shortening the story greatly, let me simply say that we broadcast our first service about 45 days later and have been doing so each Sunday at 11 AM since then. We also picked up a Tuesday evening 6 PM slot to share a different service each week. The response from our audience has been overwhelming and it opened up doors to relationships we never would have experienced otherwise. The website is making connections globally and we have been graced to help other ministries all over the world. Among other opportunities we have been blessed to assist with humanitarian missions in Nicaragua, a church plant in Scotland, a pastor and his family in St. Vincent, a missionary and orphanage in the Philippines and a handful of start up ministries in Georgia – these have all been impacted by God’s establishing and utilization of Transforming Truth. We never saw it coming. God has amazingly supplied the sum of nearly a half million dollars over that time to allow us to reach our home state of Georgia via television since our humble beginnings. Most of the work is carried out weekly by less than twenty volunteers. We have never asked our church to budget a dime for this ministry so that Meadow could focus on its mission with no distractions or conflicts. God has supplied everything we need through our viewers and a handful of supporters who understand what we are seeking to do. Just writing a fraction of what He has done makes me want to lift my hands in praise and give Him a shout of thanks. Excuse me while I do so!
The update: this Sunday we broadcast for the first time on our new network, WVLR, and will be reaching portions of four new states with a combined potential audience of a few million people. God has seen fit to open this door from out of nowhere and He has provided an entire year’s worth of funding from a Christian couple who are good friends to me and generous investors into His Kingdom. What I am learning from this process of TT’s small beginning to present day is that God expects us to explore each opportunity He puts before us. He empowers us to enter into those opportunities that are part of His plan for us. He sustains us along the way. My encouragement for you is to never stop dreaming and to not allow negativity, obstacles, previous failures or fears over “what might happen next” to dampen your zeal for Gospel advancement. You don’t have to be a preacher or singer or writer in order to see God’s work unfold before your eyes. No, you simply need to be a God-lover looking to Him with expectancy. My firm conviction is that He is always up to something good on behalf of His own. Be there when it happens.
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” – Revelation 7:12 {ESV}
May the Holy Spirit continue to show up when you preach.
God bless you very much in what you are doing. You have been a great blessing to me personally also. Keep up the good work.
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night” (Psalm 92:1-2)
Praising the Lord with you, brother, and glad to be among those who benefit from TT’s global ministry