I “borrowed” my title from a newspaper article about parents and their kindergartners starting school. It’s that time of year here in Texas. My wife is getting ready to go back to teaching, my daughter is getting ready to start her senior year in high school, and our world at church is getting ready to settle back into our “normal” school year pace. For folks on either end of the educational spectrum, it is an exciting time, as well as a deeply emotional time. School reminds us that as parents, our job is to raise our kids so they don’t need us. We are always in the process of maturing them to let them go.

    This article, however, is not about school. The title also fits my experience with Heartlight. In November of 1995, God called me to this ministry in the middle of the Lord’s Supper on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I was frustrated because a radio ministry called Heartlight had just gotten too expensive and would not be in the budget for next year. Yet God placed the importance of using mass media to share His grace on my heart a long time ago. As I sat there with this heaviness of heart, I suddenly heard the voice of conviction: “The Internet, dummy!”

    While I admit that this does not sound so profound in comparison to the call of Moses, Esther, or the apostle Paul, this moment was life changing for me. A few weeks later, the Lord led me to Paul Lee, whom I didn’t know at the time. After a few visits, we launched Heartlight in April of 1996. Our goals were modest and our money was nil. All we knew to do was plant our little mustard seed and see what would happen. Little did we know that the Lord had a lot larger vision for Heartlight than we did! The apostle Paul promised that God could do more than we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21); that promise has come to life day by day before our very eyes.

    Our early attempts were pretty lame (In cornbread English, that means our web pages were pretty ugly in the early days!), but some respected and well-known teachers and preachers shared their content and things started to click and grow. We were growing and learning. We also were having to let go! The Lord began to show us that this wasn’t our baby, but His! Our plans weren’t near large enough.

    Paul and I worked the first five years without any real compensation and on top of other full time jobs in ministry. Our wives were patient and supportive as we tried to balance family, ministry, and Heartlight. Why did we do it? Why 30 or 40 hours of work a week without pay? Simple. It was God’s work. As we involved ourselves in it, He showed us His power, grace, and presence. What seemed so small and simple to us, He made a blessing in many ways. We found out because folks who were touched told us things we couldn’t have imagined. Their stories of how the Lord used Heartlight to bless them have kept us going.

    In those early days, we weren’t sure how much impact we were actually having. One day an email came in from a missionary in Manilla. He said that he and 4 Christian businessmen met each week with 4 non-Christian businessmen to study together in an Internet Café. They used Heartlight articles and a Bible to study together, helping the non-Christian men see the relevance and power of God’s truth.

    Not too long after that email, I received a note from Western Canada on how they used our articles to help them have mid-week Bible studies with each other over the phone when the weather was too bad to get out at night. They also used some Heartlight materials for curriculum.

    A couple that had dropped out of church involvement was injured in a bad car wreck and friends helped them get a computer set up. They used Heartlight, along with other online resources, to find their way back to a closer relationship with the Lord and His people.

    Over the years, several of you have told us spouses who had never come to Christ being led to the Lord through Today’s Verse. Some of you have even translated Today’s Verse into your native language to send to family and friends via email. Others have shared how their interest in the Kingdom was re-ignited by finding relevant material on the web. Many have shared with us how they have blessed loved ones stationed overseas through Heartcards. Just recently I got to meet a teacher whose elementary students go online and use Heartlight articles as the beginning point of practical Bible study and discussion. The stories of people being blessed never ceases to amaze us.

What seemed so small and simple to us, He made a blessing in many ways.

    Yes, we’ve had some hard times at Heartlight. Money has always been tight. There have some times we are just flat worn out and have literally fallen asleep at the keyboard. Satan has sent along his share of discouragement. Then the Lord sends a message along that reminds us He is in charge and that this is His work. So as Heartlight has grown — as we have learned to do things more effectively and as we have let go of the reigns — God has done amazing things with our little dreams.

    I still try to balance family, a full time preaching ministry, and Heartlight. Sometimes it is just intimidating to realize that when I do a daily devotional, 125,000 folks are looking over my shoulder. Now thousands of churches are using Heartlight graphics and PowerPoint backgrounds in their worship services each week. When we tally up the numbers, read the old guest books, or look at all the countries represented by our Heartlight friends and family, we are truly humbled. God has been more than gracious! Our original goal was to reach 1,000 different people a month. Instead, He’s led us to more than 500,000 different folks per month. We were too shortsighted. Probably still are.

    We’re still trying to figure out where God wants us to go next and how it’s going to happen — only now, we trust it will happen. You see, I used to preach theoretically about the boy with the five barley loaves and two fish. These days, however, I thank God for having experienced it. I’m just ol’ cornbread Phil. How in the world did all the Internet stuff ever happen with me anyway? Real simple. God took cornbread and made Heartlight.

    Somewhere along the way, you decided to be a part of the Heartlight family. Many of you decided to help Heartlight do its work through your support, encouragement, thanks, proof reading, spreading the word, and prayers. We can never adequately express how precious that has been to us. As we have grown, learned, and let go, God has provided the opportunities, relationships, funds, and successes. We are blessed to be able to be a part of it. Thanks for letting us be a part of your lives through Heartlight. Thank you, Father, for the grace of being in this ministry!

 

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Title: "Growing, Learning, and Letting Go"
Author: Phil Ware
Publication Date: August 19, 2002