Yes, I want to help make disciples and train missional leaders
I love how God is using our global workers and partners like you to shine the light of Jesus into the hearts of people all over the world. I’d like to tell you a story about Ricky Sanchez and how God used him and his team in a simple but profound way on a recent trip to the Philippines.
Early in the morning, Ricky took a tuk-tuk to Rizal Park in the center of Manila. He had brought a basketball team to the Philippines as a part of a short-term mission program. That morning, he was just scouting out a quiet location for their team to do their devotions and maybe sing some worship songs together.
However, even at 6:00 AM, the park was filled with hundreds of people and buzzing with activity. Despite the lack of peace and quiet, Ricky had a strong impression in his heart from God. He felt that he needed to bring the team to the park to pray, read the Scripture, and worship God publicly—to declare God’s rule and reign over Manila.
When the team arrived at the park, Ricky watched as they filtered into the crowds with their Bibles and notebooks in hand. “They just made themselves at home among the hundreds of Manila residents who were doing their morning exercises and enjoying the water fountains, tropical trees, and statues of Filipino historical figures.”
Lazaro prayed a desperate prayer: “God, if you’re real, give me a sign that you haven’t forgotten me.”
After an hour in personal devotions, the team members gathered together for a time of corporate worship. As they began to sing, people in the park began to notice.
“We immediately saw a young man just a few feet away who was listening intently,” said Ricky. “So I went over to talk to him.”
The young man’s name was Lazaro and he was quick to tell Ricky that he had prayed a simple but desperate prayer earlier that morning: “God, if you’re real, give me a sign that you haven’t forgotten me.”
Lazaro had recently come to Manila in search of work. He lived in a tiny room near the park. Although he had interviewed for a job with a hotel in the area, Lazaro told Ricky that he was losing hope.
Ricky was able to share openly with Lazaro about God’s personal love and intimate care. It was the sign the young man had prayed for--he knew that God had not forgotten him. Quickly, the whole team gathered around to pray for him. That morning in the park, Lazaro surrendered his life to Jesus.
However, Lazaro was only the first. God wasn’t finished yet.
Soon, Lazaro’s friend, Ricardo, approached the group. In a brash but humorous way, Lazaro introduced his friend by saying, “Ricardo is a believer, but he’s also a liar. He needs prayer.”
The team leaned in and lovingly engaged Ricardo, asking God to bless and help the young man. And as they prayed for him, others also began to gather.
Before long, a stream of people in the park surrounded the group of basketball players and one-by-one began asking for prayer. It was a powerful morning. Some people in the park met Jesus for the first time that day. Others were healed.
I love how God shows his love for people like Lazaro and Ricardo and the others who were touched that morning in Manila. God knew their hearts; he heard their prayers. And he looked for those who would help him bring hope and healing into their lives. I am thankful for Ricky and the members of his team who made themselves available to God on that trip to the Philippines. And I am thankful for faithful partners like you who help make stories like this possible.
That morning in Rizal Park was deeply meaningful to Ricky. Twenty years earlier, in Fresno, California, God gave Ricky a vision to see basketball players sharing the Gospel with people in Asia. Ten years ago, Ricky saw that vision become a reality when he helped to pioneer our ACTION Basketball program. At that time, Ricky had already been serving long-term in Thailand for several years, but he kept his vision alive to see churches in North America send their young people to serve in Asia through sports ministry.
“Over the past ten years,” Ricky said, “we’ve run ACTION Basketball every other summer, and we’ve seen hundreds of young athletes challenged and transformed for Christ. And we’ve seen the Gospel proclaimed in Asia and lives touched by God in so many different ways, just like that morning in Rizal Park.”
As with all our short-term mission programs, this sports team in Manila is connected to our national partners in the Philippines and serves a long-term church-planting strategy. This ensures that people like Lazaro and Ricardo have the opportunity to be discipled within the context of a healthy local church.
God is at work in the world today, and he is inviting us to cooperate with him to bring the hope of the Gospel to people everywhere, whether that’s people like Lazaro and Ricardo in a park in the Philippines, or the person that lives next door to you in North America. God wants to speak into our hearts and use us for his purposes, whether we’re full-time global workers, basketball players or accountants.
At Multiply, we believe that God is inspiring his Church with creative ways to reach the lost, and we are committed to helping see those God-inspired visions become realities. As we come alongside leaders and churches around the world, we are focused on helping disciples make disciples, helping churches plant churches, and helping facilitate stronger mission partnerships worldwide.
If you want to reach nations with the Gospel and help turn more visions like Ricky’s into reality, then I invite you to give generously to the work of Multiply.
Together, we are discerning new directions and strategies for a fruitful global harvest. As we join hands, God will lead us and make us a blessing to the world.
Your fellow multiplier,
Your donation will fund priority initiatives that help us accomplish our mission of sending disciples to make disciples who make disciples, that the world may know Jesus.
We are committed to working collaboratively with churches and missional teams who are reaching lost people in more than 60 nations. Together, we are sending multiplying disciples, developing missional leaders, and strengthening global partnerships. Will you help us extend our impact globally by giving today?