Fall 2019 Newsletter
Dear Friend, The months of November and December often seem to fly by in a blur. Which is why I try hard to keep my focus on the heart of Thanksgiving and then Christmas, even in the midst of the whirlwind of activities and events that fill my calendar. A Christ-centered, joy-filled season is my hope for you as well. I’ll admit, it’s not easy. There are goodies to bake and presents to be bought. Church becomes busy, the family is busy, friends are busy, the airports and freeways are busy. In all the busyness, it takes preparation to cultivate a sense of wonder and worship, to give thanks and celebrate Emmanuel—God with us. I don’t want you to get to January, out of breath and filled with regret, saying,“I missed Christ this Christmas season—again.” We’ve designed this newsletter to offer some inspiration and tools to prepare your heart for the upcoming holiday season. I hope you’ll also take advantage of our brand-new 31-day Advent devotional: Consider Jesus (see pages 6–7). It’s a practical way to prepare your heart for a fresh work of His Spirit during the month of December. So . . . whether it’s coping with difficult family members in a Christ-like way, opening your home to others, or dealing with everyday stress, I pray you’ll experience the grace and encouragement that are found in His presence over these next weeks. And as you prepare your home and plans for friends and guests, may you also prepare your heart and mind to welcome the Savior, the King of kings!
Every blessing to you in Christ,
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
heart home King PREPARE YOUR
PREPARE YOUR
PREPARE FOR YOUR
Prepare Prepare
Your Heart to
Be with Family and Friends
FORGIVENESS UNLIMITED
T
his holiday season, somewhere and sometime,
Ask God to help you give the gift this season that everyone
somebody will likely treat you wrongly. That is
wants to receive but finds hard to give: the undeserved gift of
an unavoidable reality of life. So how should
forgiveness.
you respond to those who hurt you, especially if they do so intentionally? You may wonder with the apostle Peter, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Humanly speaking, it was admirable that Peter was willing to forgive the same person seven times! But the kind of forgiveness Jesus advocated was (and is) supernatural. Imagine Peter’s astonishment when Jesus replied, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Jesus’ command is staggering. We must be willing to forgive the same person time after time after time. Forgiveness unlimited! As you head into this holiday season, you might want to spend some time meditating on the rest of Jesus’ response to Peter’s question. Set aside a few minutes to read Matthew 18:21–35, where Jesus uses a parable to explain the necessity and nature of true forgiveness. The vital message of the parable is found in the master’s question, “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” (v. 33). In other words, the forgiven must be forgiving. In this parable we are reminded: • We once carried a debt of sin far beyond any hope of our ever meeting its payment. • God could have justly sold us into eternal slavery and anguish. • God freely gave us full pardon, sacrificing His own “resources” (His Son) in order to pay our debt. • Having been shown such mercy, we should be ever merciful to others.
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Ask God to help you give the gift this season that everyone wants to receive but finds hard to give: the undeserved gift of forgiveness.
Adapted from Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival (Chicago: Moody Publishers, updated 2019). Request your copy at SeekingHim.com.
Seek Him SEEKINGHIM.COM
Fall 2019
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Prepare to Make
Room at Your Table
by Rosaria Butterfield
W
e had twenty-seven church friends and neighbors and family join us this past Thanksgiving. One of the people who
blessed our table was our brother in the Lord, Zion. Zion is serving out the last two years of a decade-long sentence in a low-security prison in a neighboring county. He is allowed out of the prison walls for only five hours every other week. We aim to make those five hours precious. Zion sat next to me at dinner. He was unusually quiet, subdued. He had tears bubbling in his eyes. We passed the potatoes, and his eyes locked mine, and he said: “I’ve never been in a home before. I mean, it’s been a long time. No. Never. I’ve never been in a home. Not like this. With love. With Christ. With brothers and sisters. With children. And I belong too. Here.”
The gospel comes with a house key. When table fellowship includes those from prison, orphanhood, and poverty in real and abiding ways, permanent bonds of care and kinship are the consequence. We belong to each other, and even though we may have just realized it, we always have. The question is: Do we practice Christian hospitality in regular,
He had been in my home before, so I wasn’t quite tracking,
ordinary, consistent ways? Or do we think our homes too precious
but something was triggering something big. I took his hand in
for criminals and outcasts? Our homes are not our castles. Indeed,
mine. As Zion spoke, it all spilled out. So many broken promises.
they are not even ours.
So many loved ones lost. Insurmountable collateral damage. Impossible to see the way forward, except by the grace of God.
So where can you start? Start where you are. Who will you make room for at your table this holiday season?
As I listened, I caught a glimpse of my son Michael. Adopted at seventeen, it has taken him this many years to receive this table as his own as well. After all, we don’t look like each other. We don’t share personal history. The betrayals he has faced go deep. Only in Christ do we share covenantal history and kingly futures.
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Adapted from The Gospel Comes with a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield, ©2018, pp. 98–100. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
Prepare
for the Holiday
Food Everywhere
by Asheritah Ciuciu
During Thanksgiving and Christmas, there’s food everywhere! You can hardly go a day without encountering some food-centered event with flavors you’ve just got to try. When that happens, take the three-bite challenge. Researchers have discovered something called sensory specific satiety. Basically, our taste buds get numbed if they continually experience the same taste, so you experience less pleasure with each subsequent bite. • The First Bite: Close your eyes and take the time to really enjoy the flavors. Turn your mind toward God and praise Him for inventing such a wide variety of foods, for giving you taste buds, and for providing the food before you. • The Next Bite: Engage all five senses and let yourself fully experience the explosion of flavors. • The Last Bite: Direct your heart toward God once more, and ask Him to help you learn to enjoy Him as much as you enjoy that food.
Adapted from Full: Food, Jesus, and the Battle for Satisfaction (Chicago: Moody, 2017), where you’ll find nine more food lies—and much more!
Fall 2019
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An Invitation from Nancy
O
ur Christmas can be filled with many things besides Christ, even beneath the banner of celebrating Him. That’s why if we’re not
Prepare Your Heart: Consider Jesus This Christmas Season
deliberate in giving Him our time and attention,
Christmas is meant to remind us that Christianity, while
our awareness of His presence can easily become
technically classified as one of the world’s major religions,
artificial, even inconsequential.
is not at heart a religion at all. It is a relationship that focuses
This year I invite you into a month of daily reflections in which the sole purpose is to keep our eyes on Jesus. In the process we will deepen our relationship with Him, and our hearts will be freshly stirred as we consider what makes God’s gift of His Son the perfect and only plan for our redemption.
on a Person. It is not just a means of practicing our faith. It is Christ in me. It is Christ in you. That is Christianity.
And that is Christmas. It is Jesus—the center, the core, the essence of our lives. And we must not allow the “holiday” to distract us from this great truth or cause us to lose our focus on who He is. Yes, we get busy. Our lists overtake us. Our memories, whether good or bad or a casserole mixture of the two, create an undertow that can easily engulf us in Christmas culture rather than helping us consider Jesus. Hear that word again today. “Consider him.”
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Our only hope for making it through Christmas and (more importantly) through life is to look to Jesus.
Interestingly, the “consider him” of Hebrews 12 is a slightly different original word than the “consider Jesus” of Hebrews 3:1. That earlier mention is an encouragement to stop, as in a moment of temptation, and think of Him. “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Heb. 2:18). Hebrews 3:1 urges us to think about that fact when we are tempted. But the “consider him” in Hebrews 12:3 comes in the context of running the “race that is set before us (12:1). It is an appeal to think repeatedly of Him—over and over again—as we move forward in our lives, knowing we’ll never have the
An Advent Prayer
endurance to finish the “race” if we let our eyes roam elsewhere. Our only hope for making it through Christmas and (more importantly) through life is to look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God” (v. 2). To look and look and keep on looking. To never look anywhere else. Perhaps already, many weeks out from the culmination of Christmas Day, you can already feel yourself growing a bit “weary or fainthearted” from the demands you’ve come to expect this time of year. If that is true for you, let me give you something to
consider
on
this
between—again
and
day
and
again,
all over
the
days
and
in
over.
Consider Jesus.
Adapted from the new 31-day devotional from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, Consider Jesus. Order your Advent Devotional today at ReviveOurHearts.com/Advent.
Lord, fully capture my attention this Christmas. Help me savor You and stay enthralled with You above every other sound of excitement, inside every activity and list item. Thank You for bringing Your presence so close and making Your truth so compelling that I never tire of looking for You and longing for You repeatedly, unceasingly. Today and forever. Amen.
Advent Unpacked • Advent is the four-week season leading up to Christmas. This year Advent begins December 1. • Advent means “coming.” During these four weeks we join the saints who went before us in longing for and anticipating the promised coming of Christ. • Advent is not a required celebration in Scripture, but many believers have found it to be a helpful tool for focusing on Christ during an otherwise hectic, harried season.
• Advent is often observed with prayer, a short devotional reading, Scripture, and an advent candle, wreath, and/or calendar. • Revive Our Hearts has produced a new 31-Day Advent Devotional titled Consider Jesus. Order your copy today at ReviveOurHearts.com/Advent to consider Jesus all month long. Fall 2019
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Prepare 50% up to
for Gift Giving with Our Thanksgiving Sale
OFF
NOVEMBER 22–DECEMBER 6
I (Nancy) used to send a jillion Christmas cards and tons of Christmas gifts. In more recent years, I have cut way back on all of that at Christmas, as there is so much sense of obligation and stress trying to find something for people who don't want or need anything else. Now Robert and I try to give meaningful experiences to our friends such as a dinner or concert together. I do, however, often send Thanksgiving notes and small gifts to people who've blessed our lives. Whether you give gifts at Thanksgiving or Christmas or simply throughout the year, here are several resources I trust will bless your friends and family.
Visit: ReviveOurHearts.com/FallSale
Prepare Your Heart (and Home) . . . through Prayer As I (Nancy) think back over my life, there are a number of requests I have made to the Lord over and over again. You’ll find thirteen of them in My Personal Petitions, the Revive Our Hearts 2020 Wall Calendar. It’s my hope that these prayers will aid you in seeking Him throughout the year ahead, and that you will experience a fresh work of God in your life as you glance at this calendar each day and then personalize these prayers. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (Psalm 27:7–8) Order your 2020 calendar today at ReviveOurHearts.com/Calendar. 8 ReviveOurHearts.com
2019
Annual Report A Celebration of God’s Faithfulness In testimony after testimony, close to home and around the globe, the Lord is at work through Revive Our Hearts. We celebrate the many ways He continues to use this ministry to impact others as we call women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.
Impact through Broadcasting The ever-changing media landscape prompted the need to update our processes for audio and video programs. While maintaining our traditional media, we have continued to advance emerging media broadcasting opportunities such as social media, podcasting, and other digital areas. In other news: • Dannah Gresh stepped into a new role as cohost role for the ROH daily program. • ROH can now be heard on K-WAVE, Southern California's home for worship and the Word.
Impact through Publishing 2019 saw the release of several new Revive Our Hearts resources, including: • You Can Trust God to Write Your Story. In their first book together, Nancy and her husband, Robert, explore the mysteries of God’s Providence. • Seeking Him, refreshed. The updated version of this classic study dives into twelve areas of seeking the Lord for revival. Nancy recorded twelve teaching sessions to accompany the study, which are now available on DVD and USB. • The expansion of the Women of the Bible series. We released Elizabeth: Dealing with Disappointment and Esther: Trusting God’s Plan, along with corresponding podcast seasons. They join Abigail: Living with the Difficult People in Your Life. Additional studies and podcasts in this series will be released next year. • Consider Jesus, a 31-day Advent devotional, releases this fall. • Biblia Mujer Verdadera (True Woman Devotional Bible) released in August 2019 in partnership with Portavoz. Fall 2019
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2019
Annual Report A Celebration of God’s Faithfulness Impact through Digital Platforms
Impact through Events
God is using expanding digital platforms to spread the message of freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. In the 2019 fiscal year alone, Revive Our Hearts had over 66 million digital audio listens. The ANC digital outlet continues to grow with 4.4 million web visits and 29 million audio listens in 2019.
Revive Our Hearts invites women to engage with God’s Word through conferences and events. In 2019, that included:
Digital campaigns, social media followers, and strong digital livestream experiences all show evidence of growth. God continues to open doors for podcast expansion, due to the high traffic of the Women of the Bible podcast and the new ANC audio blogs.
• Two conferences in California: the MORE Conference in Riverside and the Venture Church Conference. Through these conferences Nancy delivered messages to more than 2,500 women. • Revive ’19: Seeking HIM. More than 2,500 women gathered in Indianapolis in September to seek the Lord for revival. Tens of thousands from across the country and around the globe participated in this event via Livestream. • Come to the Well, Revive Our Hearts’ first South African conference. In March 2019, God worked in overwhelming ways as His Spirit sowed seeds of truth in the 1,150 attendees.
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Impact through Local Leaders Forty-six. That’s the number of women in the Revive Our Hearts Ambassador Program who are actively serving in twenty-one states and eight countries. God brought eight new Ambassadors to the team this fiscal year. Those fortysix mighty followers of Christ have made more than 7,800 contacts for ROH through countless hours of dedication. They care for over 3,500 and are fundamental to the health and encouragement of women’s ministry leaders. In May 2019, our women’s ministries initiatives kicked off the Fresh Fuel for Weary Leaders Campaign by celebrating the 1,000th member of the Women’s Ministry Leader Facebook group. We hope women’s ministry leaders everywhere will find refreshment, community, and content with deep roots to strengthen their ministries and grow their own familiarity with ROH.
Impact through Global Expansion God is expanding the message of Revive Our Hearts around the globe. Here’s a glimpse: • Aviva Nuestros Corazones is gearing up for Mujer Verdadera ’20 (MV20) in March 2020. This event will be held in Monterrey, Mexico, and over 2,000 have already registered. • In preparation for MV20, ANC will be touring three different cities with a conference on “Divine Design.” Anticipated attendance is 3,000. • The Latin speaker team participated in twenty conferences in five cities, reaching over 6,000 women through these local events. • The Women of the Bible series is now available in Spanish! The Abigail and Elizabeth studies were translated and successfully offered digitally with weekly videos. The Esther study will be released in Spanish soon. • Revive Our Hearts content and studio space was used for the recording of forty podcast episodes in Farsi. Seeking Him was also translated into Farsi this year and released with accompanying video curriculum.
Fall 2019
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2019 at a GLANCE
A Celebration of God’s Faithfulness People You Should Know from 2019’s Ministry Year • Dannah Gresh and her ministry, Pure Freedom, our new strategic partners: Dannah is now the cohost of the Revive Our Hearts daily radio program, and their True Girl events are reaching the next generation of True Women and their moms. • The Aviva Nuestros Corazones speaker team, who spoke at 20 conferences across five countries. • A remnant of women’s ministry leaders: 3,500 of them served by our Ambassadors and 7,700 who are receiving regular encouragement from our Leader Connection blog emails.
• Storytellers: Many women shared their stories online as part of the launch of Nancy and Robert’s new book, You Can Trust God to Write Your Story. Facebook, our website, and our inboxes were filled with women responding to the message, #TrustGodToWriteYourStory. • A new generation of women who are encountering a classic message through new video teaching by Nancy on Seeking Him. • Abigail, Elizabeth, Esther . . . and Erin Davis and friends teaching us timeless truths with brand-new voices in our podcast, Women of the Bible.
• Albert and Sabrina Aslan and the Revive Our Hearts South Africa team, who are expanding our message into new languages: Farsi, Afrikaans, and Zulu! • Latinas connecting Latinas: A new ANC message goes out, and thousands of women get it through a texting app called WhatsApp. In part because of their work, there were 1 million more visits to the ANC website this year than last year.
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Editorial: Paula Marsteller Erin Davis Mindy Kroesche Hayley Mullins Design: Austin Collins
PO Box 2000 • Niles, MI 49120 • ReviveOurHearts.com • 800.569.5959 All Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001, Crossway Bibles, esv.org. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide
Photographers: Revive Our Hearts