March 2018 Partner Letter

Dear Partners,

In May of 1934, a group of North Carolina farmers and businessmen gathered in front of a barn to pray.  One of them, a paper saleseman, was inspired to pray that God would raise up someone from Charlotte who would take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  W. Frank Graham was a part of this group.  He was also the father of a young boy who spent his afternoons on the property doing after-school chores.  The boy’s name?  Billy Graham.  Billy, though, had little time for religion, and when he one day heard the prayer group singing inside the barn, he scoffed and said to a friend “I guess they’re some fanatics who have talked Daddy into using the place”.  Little did Mr. Graham and that salesman know how close the answer to their prayers really was!

That September, Evangelist Mordecai Ham came to Charlotte to hold a crusade.  It must have seemed to him that the first week of the crusade was a disappointment and failure, as the entry in his diary stated,  “This week only 2 souls were saved.”  However, it was anything but a failure, for in one of those early crusade meetings a 15 year-old boy, who had always wanted a career as a professional baseball player, accepted Christ as his Savior.  No one could’ve known that from this humble beginning that the newly-converted Billy Graham would eventually became the greatest evangelist of our time.  Instead of following Babe Ruth, Billy Graham would spend a lifetime following Jesus and preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries.

What a story!  We have always prayed for the youth in our services – never taking it lightly what God is doing in them as they yield their will to Jesus.  It’s so stirring!  Our God still hears and is answering the cry of a hopeless, hurting world today.

As we celebrate 40 years of preaching, singing and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ this year, we want to say a big thank you for your generous and prayerful support of Shekinah Glory!  We have our hand to the plow and we’re not looking back!  We must continue to be bold in proclaiming the Good News – never giving up, never fainting or losing courage.  We are His witness …to the ends of the earth!  We know that God’s answer from heaven is more than enough to get the job done today!  Glory, glory, glory!

…”Let us keep the witness of our hope strong and unshaking, for He is true who has given His Word”  (Heb. 10:23b)

In His Service,

Cindy, Lois and Ray