Friends,
As I look back over this past year, I can easily say that 2017 has been our greatest year to date. God has opened many doors, and by His grace, He has enabled us to go through them by faith.
I want to thank you for your support of this ministry. I hope it will be an encouragement to you for me to give a quick survey of the year. Here is where we have been and what we have done.
THE INSTITUE FOR EXPOSITORY PREACHING
Over the past year, OnePassion has held 15 Institute events in eight different countries. Our goal is nothing less than to see a new generation of Bible expositors raised up around the world. The Institutes have been hosted in:
- Chattanooga, TN
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Washington DC
- Atlanta, GA
- St Louis, MO
- Miami, FL
- Columbus, OH
- Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Abbeyleix, Ireland
- Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Kitwe, Zambia
- Manila, Philippines
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Hastings, New Zealand
In all, we have instructed almost 3,000 pastors, elders, and men pursuing the ministry in relatively intimate settings. On the average, there were about 150 men at each conference that I taught. Each Institute involved many teaching sessions, most for two to three days, with each conference, there were also with lively exchanges in question and answer sessions about peaching and ministry.
Think about the far reaching impact of our Institutes of Expository Preaching. If the average church represented was 200 members, this means that over 500,000 people are being directly effected by the preaching of the word as influenced by our conferences. Moreover, this influence is on a weekly basis. There could not be a more strategic importance being brought to bear upon these churches.
I also want to thank Ligonier Ministries for their partnership with me in this endeavor. Without their help, I could not do this.
MEN’S BIBLE STUDY
Each Thursday morning that I am in Dallas, Texas, I teach the Men’s Bible Study. We meet in a board room with twenty to thirty men present for an entire hour to study the word together. I am teaching verse-by-verse through the book of Romans, which has been a rich blessing for us. We livestream this study, which gives it live access around the word. Last week alone, we had 17,000 people viewing our journey through Romans. We also post these videos of the study on our website, along with a written transcript.
In 2017, we streamed 30 Men’s Bible Studies with a total of 241,900 views.
We had viewers from over 56 countries, watching the study either on our website or Facebook. These include:
- The United States
- Canada
- Mexico
- Philippines
- Kenya
- Japan
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Indonesia
- South Africa
EXPOSITOR MAGAZINE
This past year we produced six issues of Expositor Magazine, each focused upon the preaching of the Reformation. Since 2017 was the 500 year anniversary of the posting of the 95 Theses, it was appropriate that we address the recovery of expository preaching during the Protestant movement. We have over 2,000 subscribers and offer a digital option as well as the print subscription. The six issues covered:
- John Wycliffe and the Pre-Reformation
- Martin Luther and the German Reformation
- William Tyndale and the English Reformation
- John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation
- John Knox and the Scottish Reformation
- 5 Solas of the Reformation
ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH REFORMATION
We led a OnePassion church history tour through England and Scotland with over 30 people joining us. We visited many important Reformation sites, where great events took place, courageous martyrs were put to death, and spiritual leaders were buried. I lectured most every morning and evening, as well as at many of the sites. The places we attended were:
- London
- Cambridge
- Edinburgh
- St. Andrews
EXPOSITOR PODCAST
We also posted a weekly podcast, Expositor Podcast, in which I covered a different aspect of expository preaching. These are six to eight minutes in length and recorded with both video and audio versions. We covered 45 preaching topics that included:
- Crafting a Sermon Outline
- Preaching Through Long Books of the Bible
- Role of Music in the Worship Service
- Preaching on Predestination
- Using Bible Commentaries
- Why Handwrite Your Sermon Notes
- Getting to the Application
- Using Illustrations in a Sermon
ONEPASSION WEBSITE
We continued to add new features to our OnePassion website in order to serve the many people who use us as a resource. This includes many items that I have either written or preached. We want to be a giving ministry and these are offered free. Some of these are:
- Blog Posts
- Sermons
- Books
- Articles
THANK YOU
I want to thank you for your interest in OnePassion Ministries. Further, I want to thank many of you for your financial support. We are dependent upon the generous gifts of faithful people like you. It is your partnership with us that enables us to train a new generation of biblical expositors, as we serve the church around the world.
Again, what a wonderful year God has given us at OnePassion Ministries. We continue to be encouraged to see the Lord working through your prayers and support. If you are not already, would you consider partnering with us and supporting this ministry? We look forward to seeing all that God will accomplish in the future as we seek to advance His kingdom.
May the Lord give you much grace.
Blessings in Christ,
