Newsletter
By Tom Atema
Our family goes to taco Tuesday every week. It is very normal for me to take my great grandson down to the brook that runs behind the restaurant so we can throw stones in the brook, he can take his shoes off and slap his 1-year-old foot into the brook. As he slaps his little foot into the water, ripples flow from his footprint outward. If we pick up a little stone and throw it in, it has the same ripple effect except the ripple is a little taller, stronger and goes longer. Then I get the “signal” and I throw in a bigger rock that makes a huge splash and the ripple is high, wide and runs across the brook to the other side and slides back some.
Like a foot, a pebble or a stone, it makes no difference when they hit the water; each one creates rings of water that flows outward. We call them ripples.
You and I hold the power to the Ripple. With all the devastation in Lebanon we have a lot of opportunities before us. But nothing is more important than to share the Gospel as we help people restore their lives. What we do today will have an impact for generations to come. Just think of the people, who over the next months, will receive physical, emotional and spiritual help and the opportunity to meet Jesus.
Heart for Lebanon is entering into another season of ministry. If all goes as planned in 2025, we are planning to break ground on a new facility in Southern Lebanon. However, trust me, it’s not the 3 buildings that we believe God would have us build for greater impact in the days ahead that’s important, the facility is just like a stone, it will be our permanent campus in Southern Lebanon from which the Gospel will ripple out. The ripples from this facility will impact generations to come, not only in Southern Lebanon but throughout the nation and the Middle East for sure and maybe, just maybe, around the world.
Today at the top of Heart for Lebanon’s ministry philosophy model is its Missional Leadership Development program. This three-year disciple making program trains men and women from various ethnic backgrounds, all excited, passionate followers of Jesus Christ, to be solid, sold-out ambassadors, disciples for Jesus Christ no matter where God sends them in the world. Heart for Lebanon’s Missional Leadership students are already making ripples by making their lives count forever by following Jesus and making Him known in their neighborhoods in the nation of Lebanon.
In decisions big and small that you and I make today, our faithfulness to God causes a ripple effect that not only influences the present, but generations to come. Take Ruth’s faithfulness, for example. Ruth had no idea that the fruit of her obedience would include Jesus’ birth in her family line. Ruth’s decision has a positive ripple effect. Or take the young lad who gave Jesus his 5 loaves and 2 fishes (his stone) and what did God do? He fed thousands and had some left over. It’s the ripple principle.
What you invest in today, will have a ripple effect farther than you can even imagine. Can you fathom what God will do with the current 146 students in our Missional Leadership Development Program?
It is true that what you and I do today will cause a series of other things to happen further down the line.
