Dear Friends,
Our banquet is Aletheia’s signature event for the year. We plan the event with countless details, from great speakers to great food to great teaching. And our goal is to connect with friends of the ministry face-to-face and share where we’ve gone and where we’re going for the sake of the Gospel. In the past two years we have seen that, more and more, people are standing with Aletheia through a monthly gift. Those Monthly Partners are playing an ever-increasing (and ever-more crucial) role in our ability to minister to Christians and non-Christians throughout the United States and the world.
I’d like to share a bit about our banquet on March 12th. During that evening I shared important news about upcoming opportunities, partnerships, and challenges that the Lord is presenting to us in 2012 and beyond. Here are just the highlights from our time together.
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Greg Koukl, internationally known speaker and apologist, equipped us with insightful tactics on sharing our Christian convictions with anyone. Greg also encouraged people to partner with Aletheia as we equip the next generation of Christians to offer the credibility of their faith.
- New Monthly Partners: We are so excited that, at the banquet, many Monthly Partners joined our team with pledges to financially contribute to our national and international ministry. To our surprise, we had twice as many people pledge to donate monthly, in comparison to last year’s fundraiser.
- Our financial goal: We are so grateful to God that, through the individual and monthly gifts, we exceeded the goals we set for the evening. Although we still need support to meet our annual budget, the gifts from those at the banquet have helped us tremendously.
- Other highlights: In addition to Greg’s comments, I shared how Aletheia has impacted the culture with answers to life’s toughest questions in a way that touches the mind and the heart.
- I reported that my next book, provisionally titled Grand Central Question, will be published soon and that we are getting more and more invitations to speak to Christian and non-Christian audiences across the globe.
- I discussed how a debate I was privileged to be a part of at West Texas A&M University afforded me a chance to convincingly share the Gospel with atheists and Muslims in the audience. In the next few weeks I’ll be sharing the details of the “divine appointments” that took place in Texas.
- I shared the great news that in April, I will be joining world renowned scholars and apologists for a “Day of Discovery” in which we will be directly involved in uncovering some of the most significant discoveries of ancient manuscripts, including Biblical manuscripts, from as early as the first century. The materials I will be examining has already yielded history-making material, including what appears to be a first century Gospel of Mark - the oldest known copy of a New Testament book!
The event itself sent a message both to our guests and to us. The message to our guests was that God is using Aletheia in unique and surprising ways. Through our approach of engaging both the mind and the heart, we are impacting people and cultures that we never dreamed of reaching when this ministry began. The message to us at Aletheia is that God is truly behind this ministry as he stirs the hearts of people who want to impact the world through us by joining the team. In fact, after the event, I spoke with a guest who was greatly impacted by a video we screened about my journey from Islam to Christ. When he saw how the consequences of decision for Christ is a powerful barrier to belief and how God is using our ministry to overcome it, our guest said “When I saw that, I really got it! I’m all in!”
And it is not too late for you to play a part in this year’s banquet. Will you stand with us this year through a special gift? Even though the night is over, your gift or pledge will be added to our total and get us closer to meeting the goal we set for this important event. I look forward to announcing that our goal was met through the combined gifts from our banquet night and from your gift today.
I also want to extend an invitation to you to consider making a monthly commitment to this work. A monthly gift not only makes it easy for you to budget your support to Aletheia but it also helps us plan and take advantage of opportunities as our monthly support is dependable and consistent. You can request our monthly giving form simply by emailing our offices at mail@embracethetruth.org. We will be happy to assist you in either an EFT or auto credit or debit card monthly gift plan.
In gratitude for your gift or monthly commitment this month, we’d like to send you a CD of the evening’s speakers, including Greg’s edifying insights on sharing your Christian convictions effectively. Thank you for your consideration of a much-needed gift to Aletheia this month. And thank you for keeping us in your prayers at the same time.
In His service,
Abdu Murray