Can You Help Me Believe?

We’ve received several emails here at The Ranch since September 11th expressing this common theme: “Can you help me believe?”

I was especially moved by the honesty expressed in this letter:

“I hate to be so blunt, but how can there be a God? I am 33 and have spent at least 25 years trying to believe there is one. But there isn’t. I wish there were. I was pretty convinced there wasn’t a God after the World Trade Center was attacked. There was a little girl born 2 days after her father was killed there. She will never hear her father say I love you, will never play horsy on his knee. She will never dance for him or make funny faces for him. She will grow up, get married, and have children who will never know their grandfather…There can’t be a loving God.

“A friend said that good comes from evil, and to look at all the people swarming into churches now. If that was why God let such things happen, then I say that was pretty mean.

“You might not believe me, but I do want to believe in God. My daughter goes to a Christian preschool. I read her Christian bedtime stories and always read a bedtime prayer. I want her to believe. Can you help me believe?”

Those last two lines just pierce my heart: “I want her to believe. Can you help me believe?”

I’ve spent much of my life and my ministry helping people to do that very thing. Yet each time I hear the question asked with such honesty, it makes me call out to God again for His answer. It always feels like there’s a huge, invisible wall separating belief and unbelief, faith and doubt. How can we, as Christians, get people over, or past, or through this wall?

The answer I hear most often from God is this: share your faith. Whenever we have something that other people need, God wants us to share it with them. If you’ve got faith, share it.

Often, what people need to see is someone who has found what they’re looking for. When you share your faith with them, it lowers the wall between belief and unbelief. While the wall may still seem high, it at least makes the wall surmountable.

Your testimony will give them what they may need most: hope. Hope that their search is not in vain. Hope that the promises of scripture are true (“You will seek me and find me if you seek me with all your heart” – Jeremiah 29:13, NIV). Hope that God is still alive and cares about them, too.

One of the reasons the song Amazing Grace is so popular is that it gives people hope. The words offer hope for anyone who is seeking God’s transforming work in their life: “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

You don’t have to be a theologian to help people believe. You don’t have to be a scientist. You don’t have to have all the answers, or even one-tenth of the answers. You just have to share how Christ has changed your life – how you came to believe in Him.

If you’ve got faith in Christ, now’s the time to share it! If you don’t have it, now’s the time to look for it! When you seek God with all your heart, you will find Him, even though “he is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:11b, NIV).

What God Says about Fear

Although it was a surprise to us, I suppose it wasn’t a surprise to God that we finished our latest pocket CD on “What God Says about Fear” the week before the September 11th attacks. I wish we were smart enough to say this was because of our foresight, but we’re not. It does indicate to me, though, that God cares deeply about people’s fears.

My good friend, Russell Pond, runs an Internet ministry that deals exclusively with fear, anxiety and panic attacks (www.season.org). The week after the attacks, he wrote:

“When those terrorists attacked last week, their ultimate goal was not to destroy a building – their goal was to destroy our peace. Their target was the hearts of Americans. That’s why they are called terrorists – they invoke terror; they impart fear. If you are less likely to fly in a plane, go up into a high building or travel to New York because of the terrorist attack, then their attack on our peace was successful.”

“If you are feeling anxious and fearful, let me encourage you to run to God. Seek his peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Seek his hand of protection and guidance through this difficult time. If you are less likely to do things because of these terrible events in New York, pray for courage. Don’t let terrorists run your lives. Don’t let fear take control. Trust God to take care of you and let his peace rule in your life and your mind.

“Jesus said, ‘I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid’ (John 14:27).”

If you need God’s peace right now, I hope you’ll listen to this five-minute CD on our website at WhatGodSays.com or request a copy on the enclosed order form. You might also want to visit Russell’s website at www.season.org.

And if you need someone to talk to or pray with, write us here at The Ranch. We’ll have someone write back to you personally – someone who may have found exactly what you’re looking for.

Ranch Update

We’re still praying about the possibility of developing a “real” ranch where we could invite people to come and could grow in their relationships with God. I’ve submitted a proposal to a man who owns some property near here who has a similar vision. Please pray with us that God would reveal His will to us all.

TBN Interview

I’d also appreciate your prayers for an upcoming television interview on our local TBN station (Trinity Broadcasting Network, WTTO – 35). I’ll be sharing my faith and praying for people who call into the program.

The broadcast will air live in the Chicago/Peoria/Bloomington area on Friday November 2nd from 10:30 am to 12 noon. We’re praying that God would draw those who need to watch and that He would touch their hearts in a deep and lasting way.

Please Pray With Us

Thank you Lord,

• for letting us find You when we seek You;
• for Your Word that gives us peace in the midst of our fears;
• and for drawing people to The Ranch in answer to our prayers.

And Lord, we now ask:

for Your help as each of us shares our faith with others;
• for Your will to be revealed regarding a “real” ranch;
• and that more people will find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Two Gifts at Once

I’ve heard from many of you that you really appreciate that everything on our website is free. We offer all the stories, video broadcasts, music, and personal prayer freely to over 5,000 visitors a month from over 120 countries.

I’ve also heard from many of you that you would like copies of some of the things you’ve heard here. So we’ve made several items available in CD format so you can share them with your friends or enjoy them when you’re not online.

When you order gifts from The Ranch, you’re actually giving two gifts at the same time: one to your friend (or yourself!) and one to our ministry.

Christmas

100% pure piano performed by Marilyn Byrnes. Features contemporary versions of 11 Holiday classics including Silent Night, The First Noel, The Holly and the Ivy, O Holy Night, and Joy to the World.

Listen Here

Still Waters

100% pure piano performed by Jennifer Ramsey. Features fresh versions of 15 songs of faith including Lord, We Lift Your Name on High, Holy, Holy, Holy, and It Is Well With My Soul.

Listen Here

Clear My Mind

100% pure piano performed by Eric Elder. Features 12 original songs to heal your heart, soothe your soul, and clear your mind. Also includes the 14-Day devotional “Two Weeks With God.”

Listen Here

What God Says

100% pure scripture read to inspiring music. Each of these beautiful pocket CD’s are small enough to fit in a wallet, purse or greeting card, but play on most regular CD players. (They’re designed for CD players in which the disk is set directly on a tray or center spindle, but not for “slot-loading” types in which the CD is inserted like a coin in a slot.) Lana reads approximately 5 minutes of scripture on each CD, set to beautiful music by Chuck Giacinto, Kent Sanders, Brent Mitchell, and myself.

Listen Here

Thanks for helping us share Christ with others!

If you’d like to make a donation without ordering, just click here.

You will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Eric Elder Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

Baptism in Latvia

I received an email a few weeks ago that began with these words:

Dear Eric,

My name is Andris. It was some four months ago (on April 7) that I confessed my sins and gave my life to Jesus. And the decision was in great part thanks to the encouragement I found at The Ranch! In fact, my conversion took place right there at the ‘Lover’s Leap’ [the prayer page on The Ranch website] . . . !

This is a direct result of your prayers that people would find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to God. Andris is from Riga, Latvia (south of Finland, north of Poland) and he had watched a message at The Ranch that featured one of my special guests, Bill Allison.

The message Bill gave that Andris watched was “How to Know For Sure That You’re Going to Heaven,” which you can still watch here. (Bill is a gifted communicator and has his own ministry which you can read about at www.cadreministries.com.)

I asked Andris if I could share a portion of the letters he wrote to Bill that night and again several weeks later when he was baptized. He wrote:

[April 7] “Thank you for the great message you shared with me! Having grown up in a Christian family, but never really having chosen to follow Jesus, I was deeply touched by God’s word tonight!! I prayed to him as good as I could and confessed all the sins I could think about. I wept for about an hour on my knees before God. I asked Jesus to be my Lord, to come and change my life and free me from all my sins.”

A few weeks later he added:

[June 10] … “What’s more, Bill, I was baptized last Sunday!!! That’s truly incredible, after all these long years of darkness. By the way, that man who baptized me was my brother (Peteris)! (Yes, I forgot to mention last time my brother was a pastor.) This was an unforgettable day for him as well!

Hallelujah! Those words are music to my ears to know that the work we’ve put into The Ranch has not been in vain. It’s amazing to think that even while we sleep, God uses a website to proclaim His message to people around the world.

Please continue to pray for Andris that the seeds planted will continue to take solid root and grow strong.

The Healing Power of Confession

Many of you prayed for my talks this month at the Exodus International Annual Conference. The conference gathered together 900 people who minister to others who struggle with homosexuality, as well as many who are themselves working through this struggle.

Thanks for your prayers as God is already using the talks to bring greater freedom to people working through this issue. In one of the talks I encouraged people to share their struggle with someone they trust, rather than just trying to deal with it on their own. The Bible says:

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16a, NIV)

The following Monday I heard from a man who nervously took that advice and set up an appointment to meet with his pastor later that night. Before the meeting, he wrote:

“This afternoon I have decided to meet with my pastor and share my past and present struggles with him. He will be the first and only person I have shared this with locally. I realize that I have come to the point where I just cannot continue to handle this struggle alone without anyone locally to support me.

“… I’m scared, anxious, fearful, worried, and most of all I feel very alone in all this. As I write these words, my stomach churns with the dreaded anticipation of taking off my mask and making myself vulnerable to someone face to face, locally. I feel that I have so much to lose. But on the other hand I have so much to gain. All that I know is something must change. I cannot continue to exist the way I have existed the past 4-6 weeks. Death itself could not be any worse.”

He wrote again the next day, after the meeting:

“Well, I did it! I met with my pastor last night and basically told him everything … start to finish! He was very warm and gracious. Showed no reservations at all, was totally comfortable with what I shared. He told me that he desired to be whatever I needed, a pastor, counselor, friend, etc. I told him what I needed most was a friend with whom I could talk to, meet with, pray with, and be accountable to. He was more than eager to do that with me.

“Well, you were right! God was faithful and I felt so good after sharing all this. … What was I waiting for! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your encouragement and how God used you to move me to the point where I was willing to take this next step. It feels good to be known and still be loved!”

What a great feeling, indeed! Thanks for your prayers that are already bearing fruit.

What God Says

Lana and I, along with the help of several friends, have created four more pocket CD’s in the “What God Says” series. I love listening to Lana read the scriptures on various topics, set to inspiring music by friends like Chuck Giacinto, Kent Sanders, Brent Mitchell, and even my own. The topics finished so far include what God says about Prayer, Healing, Temptation, Missions, and Ministry.

It’s an affordable (and “cool”) way to impress God’s word on your heart. I hope you’ll order some for yourselves and your friends. It makes a great gift to tuck into a card, too! You can read more about them and listen to samples at www.WhatGodSays.com and use the enclosed card to request copies.

A “Real” Ranch

Lana and I have been praying for several years for a “real” ranch where we could invite people to come and grow closer to God.

I recently met with a man who has a similar vision and some property nearby. Please pray with us as we discuss the possibilities that could make this vision a reality. We simply want to know God’s will and ask that His will would be done.

Please Pray With Us

Thank you Lord,

• for touching the life of Andris Sprogis and giving him eternal life;
• for touching people through the Exodus conference to free them from their sexual struggles;
• and for putting desires on our heart and then helping us to accomplish them.

And Lord, we now ask:

• that You would protect and nurture the seeds that have been planted in people’s lives so they will bear fruit that will last;
• that You would “enlarge our territory,” both over the Internet and physically;
• and that more people will find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

New! Pocket CD’s!

These beautiful CD’s play in most CD players but are small enough to fit in your wallet, pocket or purse. Each CD contains about 5 minutes of encouraging words from God’s Word read to inspiring music. The suggested donation of $8 each (all 5 for $40) includes shipping and handling. Visit www.WhatGodSays.com where you can listen to samples, read the scriptures, and place an order.

If you’d like to make a donation without ordering, just visit the donation page.

You will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Eric Elder Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

How Does God Do It?

I was talking to a pastor friend about how God can possibly meet all the needs of all the people in the world. I said, “I don’t know how God does it.”

I wasn’t expecting a reply, but my friend turned to me and said, “I know how He does it. He does it through people like you.”

I had to think about that for a minute, but I realized he was right. Not that God does it just through me, but that He does it through ordinary people like me and like you. God has given each of us gifts that He wants us to use to reach out to others, to be His hands, to speak His words, and to demonstrate His love.

You may not think much of your gifts, but God does, and the people God has put around you certainly will as you reach out to them in His name. They desperately need a touch from God, administered by YOU.

The Bible says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10, NIV).

In my last newsletter, I asked you to pray that God would send people to help me answer the emails that come into this ministry. Thanks for praying! People have volunteered from Peoria (Illinois) to Pretoria (South Africa) and have begun to provide terrific and specific care to those who come with various requests. They range from a 14-year old who writes beautiful letters to an 87-year young retired chaplain.

I want to share with you some of the things God has done through them recently at The Ranch, not only to show you how God is answering your prayers for this ministry, but to encourage you to use your own gifts to reach out to those around you, too.

A Brazilian woman wrote for prayer. She said she had been saved, but had since lost sight of Jesus and wanted to be restored to God. I felt it would be better if someone who spoke her native language responded to her. What is it they speak in Brazil? Portuguese? So I passed her note on to a friend who speaks Portuguese. They corresponded in Portuguese and I later received this note from the Brazilian (in English),

“Since I wrote the e-mail to [the two of you], God has given me so many words of reconciliation. As I began to study these words I began to grow in my knowledge of God’s forgiveness. I am very grateful to [the two of you], who cared enough to take the time to share the gospel with me. And above all I am grateful to God.”

I received another note from a 16-year old girl asking if there was someone she could talk to. I put her in touch with our 14-year old volunteer. The 16-year old asked her,

“I was just wondering if maybe we could be friends, just someone I can talk to since I can’t really talk to my parents [they are going through a divorce]. Usually when I need a friend to talk to there is nobody in sight to listen to me and maybe you could help me with that.” Our volunteer said she would be glad to talk and pray with her and she got this reply back: “Thank you soooo much for replying to my email this means sooo much to me, and also I would like to thank you for praying for me.”

They’ve written, chatted and prayed many times since, bringing hope into an otherwise hopeless situation.

Another note came from a woman whose husband, a pastor, came into the chat room at The Ranch looking for some encouragement for himself. Little did he know how God would encourage him!

Although no one from The Ranch was in the chat room at the time, another woman was there who found the site and liked the music. The wife’s email continued:

“She was not a Christian but was searching for “something.” My husband had to go to bed and I ended up talking with her and we chatted for about three hours. We had so much in common it was amazing. On Saturday night I was typing my husband’s sermon and God called me back to the chat room. She arrived at the same time I did. My husband and I chatted with her for about an hour and before we logged off she had prayed the sinner’s prayer. It was an overwhelming experience. I have chatted with her since and am helping her get into a church that can minister to her and her children. We thought you would be interested knowing how God used your site to save a lost soul.”

Praise God that He works through each one of us as we use our different gifts for Him! I can do some things, but I certainly can’t speak Portuguese, I’m not a teenager, and I can’t chat 24 hours a day! But the Bible says that we are the “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27) and He has given each of us different gifts to build up those around us. Christ is the head and we are His hands, His feet, His ears, His mouth.

I want to encourage you to reach out to those around you, at work, at home, at school, at church. God has put you in the midst of people who need a touch from Him, a word from Him, or a demonstration of His love.

If you wonder where to start, just pray a simple prayer like this right now:

“Lord, use me as a blessing in someone’s life today.”

The Power of Prayer

Speaking of prayer, a friend recently asked me: “What do you do to promote your websites? Do you pay for that? By looking at your statistics, you must be doing something else more than I am!”

My answer? No, I don’t pay to promote them, but I do pray to promote them. And I know many of you reading this newsletter pray regularly that God would draw people to The Ranch and the KidsRanch so God can draw people closer to Him.

The KidsRanch, for instance, gets 5,000 to 6,000 visitors a month, even though it’s only been up for less than six months; that’s 5 times as many visitors as another website I developed over 2 years ago for which I’ve never asked anyone to pray.

The prayers have opened up opportunities for these websites to be seen all over the world. Just a few months ago two men from Switzerland, Daniel Hari and Beat Baumann, came to the U.S. to visit some ministries doing outreaches over the Internet. They are creating some websites in Switzerland to reach out as well (www.livenet.ch and www.esoterik.li). After visiting the headquarters of places like Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Crosswalk, and Campus Crusade in Canada, they came to visit me!

When they returned home, they wrote up some articles about their visit. Within a few days a publication called “Friday’s Fax” (or Freitags-Fax as it is known in German) picked up the story about our ministry and sent it out by fax and email to 7 million people! (www.jesus.org.uk/dawn/2001/dawn12.html#USA3)

I got a copy from a friend in Texas who had received it from someone in New Zealand where it had been translated from the original German into English. What a world we live in today. And what a God we have who answers prayer in ways that go “beyond all we could ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).

People from Germany and Switzerland have since written in to ask if I can correspond with them in German. I could try, but guess what? Someone volunteered just a few days ago to help answer emails – in German!

Can I share with you one more astounding answer to your prayers? I asked you in the last newsletter to pray for me as I began to write a book. I’ve since started and still need your prayers. But soon after I asked you to pray, I got an email from a woman who had seen my testimony on the Prayer of Jabez website prayerofjabez.com.

She was just finishing up a book on prayer and wondered if she could publish my story in it, and asked if I had any other stories about answered prayer. I wrote out a few more and sent them to her.

She then told me her publisher had printed 15,000 copies of her previous book about angels (called Angels Everywhere by Lynn Valentine) and Hallmark printed another 35,000 copies of the book for their stores. They plan to print similar runs of this book called The Power of Prayer, possibly as soon as Christmas of this year.

I’m glad to know that even though I have no experience at getting a book published, God does! Please pray that my stories will make it into the book and that they will encourage many to reach out to God in prayer.

Please pray also as I continue to write my own book, that God will give me words to write and an avenue to deliver them to as many people as possible.

What God Says

I hope you’ll indulge me to let me write an extra page or two of this newsletter. In the past few weeks, God has put on my heart a new project to put His Word into the hands of thousands of people at their point of need.

God has given us Words of Life in the Bible, but for many people they are simply idle words because they are kept closed up in a book on a shelf.

A new CD format has sprung up recently in a shape that can fit in your wallet, or in your pocket, or in a greeting card, but can still play in a normal CD player. They hold about 5 minutes worth of music or about 50MB worth of data.

We’ve begun to create a series of these CD’s called “What God Says” to address various topics, such as “What God Says About Prayer,” “What God Says About Love,” “What God Says About Healing,” “What God Says About Missions.” The list of possible topics goes on and on to cover what God says about depression, fear, joy, sex, grief, life, relationships, mothers fathers, children, angels, and so on.

With the help of some talented friends, we are putting these scriptures on CD’s, set to beautiful background music. Lana reads the scriptures with a voice that people describe as “angelic,” “perfect,” “soothing,” and “it moved me to tears,” among other great words (and they’re all true!).

We’ve begun to secure the trademarks, copyrights, and even UPC barcodes to begin to offer them not only over the Internet, but also in stores where people are looking for gifts for others or inspiration for themselves.

I believe that the distinctive packaging, the low-cost, and the compelling message of these CD’s will make this an attractive way to expose people to God’s Word in a way they’ve never experienced before.

The project is constantly on my mind, going back and forth in my brain as I try to work out the details and consider the possible impact. I need your prayers desperately as the urgency and difficulty of making this happen overwhelm me almost daily. It makes me cry even now just thinking about the impact this will have on people’s lives.

I’d like to send you one of our first completed CD’s called “What God Says About Missions.” Just send us the response card in the enclosed envelope and if you could include a donation, that would be great, too.

A missionary friend helped us choose the scriptures, Lana reads them beautifully in various English translations, Chuck Giacinto composed the moving music, and Jim Brown provided the photography for the cover. Even though the CD’s only 4 minutes long, I can listen to it over and over and not get tired of it. I know it will be a great encouragement to others who have a heart for missions, or others whom God wants to have a heart for missions if they were so inspired. This will also give you a feel for the potential of the entire series.

As I’ve said many times, I have to say again: I need your prayers. The planning, budgeting, legalities, copyrights, trademarks, royalties, and so much more are sometimes way beyond what my grapefruit-sized brain can comprehend (it feels like a plum most days!). The learning curves are high, but I can see how God has trained me so much already during my years studying His Word and studying technology. I realize that in many ways He has uniquely called me to make this happen.

I hope you’ll request at least one copy of this first CD, and consider getting several copies to hand out to others.

I’ve also created a new website to go with the CD’s called WhatGodSays.com. From there, you can listen to samples and sign up to receive an email whenever new titles are available. I hope to have the first ten titles or so done very soon, and we have another 50 or more waiting in the wings to be created in the future.

The best way you can help me is to pray. But you can also help me in two other ways.

We can produce 500 CD’s of one title for just $1,500. That’s incredibly cheap by recording industry standards. But that’s $1,500 more than we have. If there’s a particular title you would like to see us develop (you can see a list at the WhatGodSays.com), we could begin to work on that title with a $1,500 donation. We’re praying for at least 10 initial donors who would help us fund the development of the first 10 titles.

I wish I could offer you an earthly return on your investment, but I’m positive that the heavenly return God will give you will be worth much more than anything I could give you.

The other way you could help us is to consider committing to send a regular monthly gift to this ministry. James Dobson (head of Focus on the Family) sent out a newsletter last month that accurately describes a dilemma we’ve noticed in our own ministry for the past three years (you can read his letter at family.org/docstudy/newsletters/A0015866.html).

He said that the mainstay of their funding comes through gifts they receive in the mail as people write in to request information or help. But in recent months, many of those people have begun to use the Internet to contact their ministry. They’ve been able to respond to many more people as a result, but the downside is that people are less likely to include a gift when they correspond over the Internet.

We also continue to grow and reach out to more and more people, but our donations have not grown proportionately. We would like at least another 20 families or churches to make a commitment to send in a monthly gift. We continue to trust in God for our provision, but we also know that one of the ways He provides is through people like you.

Thanks for letting me share this. Like James Dobson, I don’t like to make this kind of appeal and I try not to do it very often. But I do feel it’s important to clearly state our needs so those who are interested can respond.

Please Pray with Us

There is power in prayer, and I hope you’ll pray along with us.

Thank you Lord,

• for the volunteers you’ve provided to help us give individual care to those who come needing a touch from You;
• for the growing number of people who are being drawn to You because they were drawn to our websites;
• and for the inspiration and opportunities to continue expanding the territory of this ministry.

And Lord, we now ask:

• that You would help each one of us to use our gifts to reach out to those around us;
• that You would bless these writing projects and new CD’s to bring Your Word into the lives of people who desperately need it;
• and for still more people to find their way to The Ranch and the KidsRanch so they can find their way to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Have a great week! Don’t forget to use the gifts God’s given you to reach out to others!

We Appreciate Your Support!

If you would like to request a copy of “What God Says About Missions,” please visit the WhatGodSays.com website, where you can also make a donation to our ministry.

If you’d like to make a donation without ordering, just use the link here.

You will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Eric Elder Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

“Help Wanted” at The Ranch

Fourteen years ago God instilled within me a purpose for the rest of my life: to make God’s name known throughout the earth.

I was reminded of that purpose again these past few weeks as people have been signing up for this newsletter from places like Nuuk, Greenland; Tedlam, India; Kingston, Jamaica; and Lagos, Nigeria. (Welcome to everyone who’s new to this newsletter, whether you’re in Johannesburg, South Africa or Peoria, Illinois!)

Even though I have a very small ministry, I’m thrilled that God is able to amplify it throughout the world. In the past two years, over 80,000 people have visited The Ranch website from over 100 countries.

I feel a little bit like Moses may have felt when he stood at the edge of the Red Sea. God told Moses to do a little thing (raise his staff) and God did the BIG THING (parted the sea). And I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Moses to do his “little” thing, but it’s clear that it was God who did the BIG THING.

God has used November’s USA Today article to open even more doors for me to make God’s name known. These include:

• a half-page story in the LaSalle-Peru (Illinois) NewsTribune,
• an article in World Affairs Weekly, one of the major national magazines in Japan,
• a radio interview on WPEO (Peoria, Illinois),
• a law paper at the Hamline University School of Law (Minnesota),
• an article in the University of British Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism Review (Canada),
• and an Internet research project at Lincoln Christian College (Illinois).

These have come in large part because of your prayers that God would “bless us indeed and enlarge our territory.” But now I’m at a crossroads: I need you to either stop praying for God to bless us, or pray that God will raise others up to help!

What I need are some people who would help me correspond with and pray for those who come to The Ranch for encouragement. I answer as many e-mails as I can each day, but I still have about 300-400 e-mails waiting in my inbox, some of which have gone unanswered for months. Most of these are believers who need encouragement in their faith, a listening ear, and a prayer of hope.

The Bible says:

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10, NIV).

If you’d like to help out by responding to 2-3 emails a month, or spending an hour or two a week in the chat room at The Ranch, I’d love to hear from you.

As I thought again this morning about raising up a network of volunteers for this purpose, I sensed God saying: “Eric, you raise your staff and I’ll part the sea and we’ll see many safely delivered to the other side.” Care to join me?

KidsRanch Takes Off

Thanks, too, for your prayers for the initial launch of the KidsRanch (kidsranch.org). In the first three months we’ve had over 9,000 visitors from 40 countries! The site has also become an instant hit with others doing Internet ministry. Here are a few of their reviews:

Tony Whittaker, who lives in the U.K. and writes the Web Evangelism Bulletin (web-evangelism.com) says:

“KidsRanch is a brilliant new evangelistic site for children. There is an excellent range of fun games, jokes, and stories. Especially commendable is the fact that it does not look like a Sunday School lesson, full of ‘churchy’ graphics; nor does it assume that readers know anything about the Bible or Christianity. Unlike the majority of Christian children’s pages, it is therefore very accessible to children with no Christian background. It also avoids preachiness, talking down to kids, or generally having a high ‘cringe’ factor. As so often in online evangelism, less is more.”

Tony recommends that churches who don’t have a kids section on their own website can link to the KidsRanch. If you’d like to link to it, I’ve set up a page to make it easy at kidsranch.org/.

Andrew Careaga, who lives in Missouri and literally wrote the books on E-vangelism (e-vangelism.com) and E-Ministry (eministryonline.com) says:

“We ring in the New Year with an excellent new evangelistic site for children, KidsRanch. … KidsRanch features plenty of games, jokes, stories (in text and video) and other interactivities (cursor-chasing ants and a virtual piano, to name a few) to keep kids — and adults — entertained for hours.”

And from Karl Bastian, Children’s Pastor in Barrington, Illinois and founder of Kidology University for children’s workers (kidology.org), comes my favorite review:

“Hey, Kids! This is the best site I’ve ever found for kids! You will find LOTS of really cool stuff to do!”

So if you haven’t visited the KidsRanch yet, it’s worth a peek at kidsranch.org.

Upcoming Book

One of the most common struggles that people write to me about is in the area of sexuality. I’m hoping to summarize some of the hundreds of letters I’ve written on this topic in a new book. This is a huge undertaking for me and I need God’s help to carve out the time to work on this project. Since I know prayer works, I’d love your prayers that God will help me write this book.

My hope is to have it finished in time for the annual Exodus International conference in August where I’ve been asked to speak on this topic.

Still Waters

A friend of ours, Jennifer Ramsey, is a beautiful pianist and often plays during communion at our church to help lead people into their own quiet times with God. I was blessed recently to help her record some of this music so people can use it in their own quiet times at home. You can listen to all of the songs at The Ranch at Still Waters.

If you’d like to order a copy of the whole CD, just fill out the Response Form. I believe the music will really bless you…and your gifts in return will help us to reach out to others with the love of Christ.

Please Pray with Us

On the home front, I’d appreciate your prayers for my Dad as he recovers from bypass surgery on his heart. The extended time I’ve spent with him the past month has been a great reminder of the gift of life and breath God’s given freely every day to each of us…and to those we love.

Thank you, Lord,

• for the gift of life and breath,
• for drawing thousands to the KidsRanch to learn about You,
• and for creating each of us with a purpose and faithfully fulfilling it in our lives.

And Lord, we now ask

• for You to speak to the hearts of those You want to join us in this work,
• for the time and wisdom to write this book for those who struggle with sexuality,
• and for more people to find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

We Appreciate Your Support!

This ministry is funded entirely by people like you.  In appreciation of your support, we’d be glad to send you a copy of Jennifer Ramsey’s CD “Still Waters.”  Just visit The Ranch Giftshop.  You can listen to the songs on this CD here.

You can also donate online or by mail by clicking here. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Eric Elder Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.