September Newsletter 2022
Quitters Never Win
All of you at some time, have probably heard the expression “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” It has been around a long time and if my memory serves me correctly, I think it originated with a famous coach. I don’t remember which one.
Is it true? Yes, I think it is entirely true.
While in my last years of college I was asked to lead worship for a small church in a small town about 50 miles north of Minneapolis. Pastor Tom Lively was pastoring the church mainly because he didn’t want to see it close. There were about 25 people in the congregation. There are a lot of churches across America of this size. Hats off to them for “keeping on keeping on.” Every church, if they are preaching the true Gospel, is a light in their community.
Pastor Tom had a dream. He wanted to supply native Eskimos in northern Canada with transistor radios that could receive one station. These natives were off the grid, trapping for a living, pretty much removed from civilization. His plan was to preach the Gospel over the one station frequency, so they could hear the Good News while otherwise isolated from the rest of the world.
Of course, the project came with a price and he had a plan to raise the money. Although I didn’t know this at the time, large companies store their overflow inventory in semi trailers. His plan was to lease trailers to them, which would turn a significant profit for his fledgling company. He made sales calls to about 50 companies and then it was a waiting game. Would someone bite? All he really needed was one sizable sale to see his dream become a reality.
He waited, and he waited for the phone to ring. Would it ring? Well, that’s where belief in his dream and perseverance came into play. Waiting can be an exercise in torture, wondering if the desired reward will arrive, or if in the waiting one runs out of money and goes bust.
Each Sunday I would ask the same question. Did you get a sale yet? Each Sunday the answer was the same. Not yet. Pastor Tom was running out of money. One Sunday, he informed me that he had spent his last 20 dollars on a gold plaque that contained the essence of his mission. He took it out of his pocket and showed it to me. He always carried it with him to keep the vision fresh on his mind.
My assignment came to an end, and I moved on. When I left, Pastor Tom had not yet attained his “big sale.”
A few years later, I located him on the internet and gave him a call. My curiosity had gotten the best of me. Did he achieve his dream, or did he crash and burn?
It was a cheerful voice that came on the phone that day. After some small talk, I asked him the question, “Did you get your sale?”
“Yes, I did. One day Target called me and wanted 50 storage trailers. It was a bunch of money. We got our radios for the Eskimos, I preached to them daily. Many of them gave their lives to Christ.”
Well, there you have it. What is obvious is that Pastor Tom could have given up and the great heavenly achievement would never have happened. But he didn’t . . . he didn’t quit; he persevered and received his heart’s desire, and as a result, many native Eskimos of northern Canada became Christians.
Nearly two decades later the Lord began to tell me it was time to start a ministry. I was very tentative and dragged my feet. I was in the advertising business at the time and the longer I waited to step out and start the ministry, the more my business continued to dry up. When God opens a door, He shuts another.
Finally, I drafted a letter and sent it out to about 60 people, explaining that God was telling me to start a ministry. Much to my surprise, a few people sent checks for my new endeavor. It was enough to tell me that I was on the right track.
Moving in that direction was hard. I can’t tell you how hard it was. I was living by faith now. My income consisted of what money came in the mail, and the checks people would sometimes slip into my hand after a conversation about what I was doing. Somehow, I made it through. I am now in the 28th year of ministry . . . and still living the same way, by checks that come into the mailbox and contributions people sometimes slip into my hand when I see them. At this writing, Lorraine and I are in great need. Tomorrow is a big day. An old friend has asked me to call him because he may have money for us . . . and tomorrow the PO box will be checked to see if any contributions have come in. I have sizable obligations to pay tomorrow and Monday.
When I think back to the early days of the ministry, I remember a terrible time of “keeping on keeping on.” Waiting for the needed money to operate to come out of “who knows where” can be something that never completely leaves your mind. Crouch, who started Trinity Broadcasting, now the largest Christian Broadcasting Network in the world, once told of his early days in starting the ministry. There was a five-year period of preparation and gathering funds before launching the broadcast. He said the anxiety of the project never left his mind through those five years.
I knew exactly what he meant because I was going through the same thing in those early years. In the beginning I thought about quitting several times a week.
Sometimes, when it got very intense, I would go in to see my pastor, G. Mark Denyes, who pastored the large church in a northern suburb of Minneapolis where I was an elder. I would tell him everything I was going through. He would listen attentively, and when I was done venting, he would always say just one thing,
“Whatever you do, don’t quit!”
By the grace of God, I didn’t quit. Six years from the start of the ministry, things began to explode. Right after the Columbine shootings, we brought nine teens from the Columbine tragedy to Rush City, Minnesota to do an evangelistic event. Our attendance for the two-night event was double the population of Rush City. About 3000 people were in attendance. The altar call for salvation filled the front and backed up in the aisles halfway to the back of the three-court gymnasium.
For the next five years we produced numerous events across the Midwest. Our character-based assemblies in schools and large evangelical events drew over 40,000 people. Thousands came to Christ.
You may be in the middle of a call God has placed on your life. I can only imagine what you are going through. A call is always tested. Satan will throw everything but the kitchen sink at you, trying to get you to quit.
My advice to you is simple. Don’t quit! Glorious victory may be right around the next corner. Keep going. Stay faithful to the call, whatever it takes. Like my pastor said to me many years ago, I now say to you,
“Whatever you do, don’t quit!”
A Farm Girl’s Barntique
A Division of georgeandlorraine.com
AN ONLINE FACEBOOK STORE
By Lorraine
I recently, started this fun online store. This is another way for you, our readers, to be able to support our ministry.
With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming upon us in the next two to three months, I ask that you would keep our Facebook store in mind.
Maybe you don’t need to buy gifts because your family has stopped exchanging gifts or you personally don’t need anything. Maybe you are not a shopper.
Then George and I ask that you would make it your mission to share this page with other people you might know who do.
If you have a Facebook page, please like and share our page on your Facebook page. This is the best way to help us get the word out to individuals.
Also, I post our web address in every post I put up. This is a less intrusive way to get people to go to our ministry website. If they like what we sell then maybe they will visit our website.
Thank for your support, and help!
In His Service,
George and Lorraine Halama
Photo taken by Lorraine