2006-05-01 - A Milestone for CF Devotionals

In the mid-1990s, a friend of Mike's and mine named Angela started a ministry. She sent out passages on topics, and by word of mouth, she had around 80 subscribers - which was amazing to me. But other responsibilities of her life crowded in, and she was unable to continue that. Ten years ago this month (April 1996), several of us (Mike, Tim and myself) put our respective heads together and decided to keep the ministry going - and expand it a bit. We had a radical idea; rather than passages, what if we actually wrote what we felt God was leading us to, and send that out daily?

At the time Mike and I were pondering and praying over all this, Tim wrote me out of the blue to offer to keep the ministry going. He said he'd write two per week for us. So Mike and I thought "who else is crazy enough to step into this with us?" He brought Rick (now retired) onboard, complete with Rick's extensive knowledge of the Jewish faith. I asked David, for I knew him to be sound theologically and a leader in his church, a natural teacher.

Voila - we had a great diverse staff in place, and it wasn't even hard. God had done the preparatory work for us. But what if we ran into differences of opinion that brought things to a standstill? Who could we ask to join us, that could rein in these strong individuals? ; ) We asked a mutual friend that several of us knew, who had 30 years of pastoral counseling experience, as well as being a Bible scholar. Geoff seemed to be just what we needed, and he was brave enough to join us!

Through the years, we have had a need for additional staff, and God has, as one of our staff (Mike) likes to say, "blessed our socks off" with the ones He has sent us - in chronological order (assuming my memory serves correctly) - Sandi, Rob, Derek (now retired), Lisa, Adam, Cheryl and Bob.

We put together some basic policies that have served the ministry well through the years (i.e.Biblical theology, no commercial advertising or promotion, always keeping our word, not flooding readers with non-devotional mails, don't share the mailing list, etc.). Ten years later, God has done a "loaves and fishes" work in the ministry. We now have over 6000 subscribers around the world.

We'll be returning to the topic of the decade milestone over the next couple months, including info on CFPray. We'll also be sharing devotionals and moments that have been special to staff members. And we'd love to hear from you. If the ministry has touched your life or ministry, it would mean a lot to us, to know about it. The ministry has received accolades from Christian publications etc. but what is most meaningful to us is the responses we get from you guys, for without you, this ministry wouldn't be here, either. I'll cut this off now, or it could turn out to be as long as a television awards show. All we need are the gratuitous musical numbers! ; )

It doesn't seem like ten years; I guess "time does fly when you are having fun!" We look forward to hearing from you!

With appreciation and in His Service,
Your CF Staff

http://www.cfdevotionals.org