Charlie Warren
How long are your arms? Boxers with long arms have a
definite advantage. Their reach extends beyond that of their opponent’s.
Your reach may extend further than you think.
Here’s another question. Have you figured out how to be in more
than one place at the same time? I have. And you, too, are often in many places
at once, whether you know it or not.
When you give to your church, a designated percentage of
your gift goes to the Cooperative Program, an amazing system that extends your
reach and allows you to be in many places at once.
Your reach extends all the way around the world through the
Cooperative Program. The sun never sets on Southern Baptist mission efforts. In
the middle of the night when you are sound asleep, you are reaching the Maasai
people in Kenya and Tanzania and planting churches in India through your tithes
and offerings.
At other times, you are planting churches right here in
Arkansas. You are ministering to migrant workers in Hope. You are impacting
college students in dozens of campuses across Arkansas. You are helping to
educate students at Ouachita Baptist University and Williams Baptist College.
You are winning young people to Christ through our Baptist camps. You are
offering hope and a better future to children through the Arkansas Baptist
Children’s Homes. You are involved in chaplaincy ministry in prisons,
hospitals, military bases and a plethora of other venues. You are assisting
churches all across our state.
You are ministering to Californians and New Englanders
through the North American Mission Board. You are reaching folks from
Washington state to the Florida Keys and everywhere between.
Did you know your arms were that long? Did you know you were
in so many places at once?
The next time you give money to your church, thank God for
letting you be a part of ministry all across Arkansas and around the world.
None of us can reach very far alone, but together we can join hands and
encircle the globe, 24-7.