Daily Devotional for Tuesday August 7, 2007

A Vision to Reach Lost Souls

(Proverbs 29:18)

A vision to reach lost souls! One of the things that often gets delegated to the bottom of my "to do" pile in the course of trying to get all of my work done each day, is taking the time to get alone with God and get fresh revelation, fresh direction, fresh vision. Liveprayer doesn't have committees or teams or special boards who sit down and come up with ideas and plan out the things we do. Everything about Liveprayer from the initial vision for the ministry to everything we do each day to reach people for Christ has come directly from God. Vision is critical in any ministry, but especially in this type of prophetic ministry that isn't operated in glass buildings by hundreds of employees and massive amounts of money, but simply by the Spirit of the living God!

Over the past 4 months, God has given me a great passion and vision to reach even more lost souls each day for Christ. Over that time, He has been opening the right doors to make that vision a reality. I pray that you will be as excited as I am as we continue to reach out literally 24/7/365 to this lost world we are part of. Let me start with an update on our relationship with shock jock Howard Stern. We were working towards a deal that would allow us to simulcast the audio from the TV program each night on his Howard 101 Sirius channel. We came to an impasse over the content. They wanted some control over the content of the program, and that was something I was not going to give up to anyone. I understand they want to "Howard-ize" everything they do, but Liveprayer is a serious work of God and not a humorous radio bit. We've agreed to do a monthly Liveprayer special on Howard 101 like the ones we have done in the past. So we will continue to maintain a relationship with Howard via that monthly special and see how it may evolve in the future.

I am really excited to announce that Liveprayer is going to be a title sponsor of next year's Florida State Fair. You do not understand what a HUGE deal this is. First of all, the Florida State Fair is run by the State of Florida. Because it is a state-run operation, there is the typical issue over any affiliation with a religious organization. However, because of our presence last year, God gave us great favor with Fair officials and we will be coming on board as a title sponsor for the 2008 Fair. What that means is that Liveprayer and our logo will be on every TV, radio, and print ad for the 2008 Fair. We will be on the millions of pieces of printed material the Fair will put out. In addition to that exposure and visibility, we will have a 50x100 (5,000 SF) structure in the heart of the Midway that will be called the "Liveprayer Gospel Tent."

At the LGT, the front will have a huge multi-media display to tell people about Liveprayer and challenge them in their daily lives. Like last year, we will hand out lots of promotional materials to Fair visitors. Inside the LGT will be a stage with state-of-the-art sound and lighting and seating for 400. All 12 days of the fair we will have live music at 2, 5, and 8. There will be a time of prayer after each performance, however, after the music at 8 p.m., we will have an old fashioned camp meeting type service where I will bring a message each night dealing with issues everyone faces and challenge those who come to make a commitment of their heart and life to Christ. Last year, over 500,000 people attended the Fair! What an incredible opportunity to bring Christ to this world in a bold and visible way!!!

You better sit down for this one. The next great announcement is that Liveprayer will be doing a second hour-long LIVE program in the Tampa market ( 12 in the nation) starting Monday, September 3rd! Don't worry, I haven't lost my mind. The second Liveprayer program will air on WTTA-TV38, a MyNetworkTv affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group. It will be on "live" every Monday thru Friday from 7:30-8:30 in the morning. This will allow us to reach a whole new audience in what is known as the "morning prime," as we go head-to-head with the Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, and the rest of the early morning programming geared to that massive audience of people who is starting their day, many preparing to go to work or school. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY!

This morning edition of Liveprayer will have the same basic format with live calls from the viewers, however, there will be more guests and the topics will be geared more to meeting the needs of the viewers as they prepare for their day. So we will be on "live" every Monday thru Friday from 7:30-8:30 a.m. on WTTA-TV38, and then that night "live" from 1-2 a.m. on WTOG-CW44 where we have been for nearly 5 years now. Also, both programs will be available when they are "live" to anyone in the world with Internet access on Liveprayer.com, and both programs will be in our TV Show archives.

It is our plan to be back on nationwide on the "i" Network, "live" every Monday thru Friday from Midnight to 1 a.m. EDT starting Monday, October 1. The great thing about the new morning program is that it also opens up the opportunity for us to pull in lots of advertisers that we simply could not attract at 1 a.m., since that "morning prime" time slot is one of the most viewed times of the day. I have recently hired a long time TV advertising sales person to head up our in-house ad sales team. The advertising revenues will help us to cover all of the costs of the new program by the end of our first 30 days on the air. God is good!

Last, and actually the greatest news of all, is the launching in early September of Liveprayer Mobile. There are right at 3 BILLION cell phones worldwide. If you want to aggressively reach people, you have to aggressively reach them with the technology they use. That has been the key to the success of Liveprayer on the Internet, it has been the key to the success of the Liveprayer TV program on secular television, and it will be the key to our success in reaching the world in the coming years by bringing Liveprayer directly to cell phones. The package we are working on will include the ability to watch the TV program when it is on live, to view the past archived TV programs, to receive the Daily Devotional, to send prayer requests and receive answers on your cell phone, and for me to be able to send a special message each day to those who are part of Liveprayer Mobile. LM will also have a Bible right on your cell phone!

If the entertainment and porn industries can tap into people's lives through their cell phones, why can't we? What an incredible opportunity to reach people where they live, through the very device most people carry with them 24/7. How great will it be for people to be able to access any of the unique daily content from Liveprayer wherever they are at on their phone? How great will it be for people to be able to send a prayer request at any time right from their phone and get an answer back on their phone? Being able to reach people anywhere in the world, impact and change their lives by being accessible on their cell phone is above anything I had ever imagined. This is a war for souls and we have to reach out to people every possible way we can.

We are partnering with a cutting edge mobile technology firm in Phoenix, run by a man who loves the Lord and wants to see this technology used to reach souls for Christ. As you can imagine, there are lots of challenges as we bring this online in the coming weeks so be praying as God moves and gives us favor and helps us to make great use of this modern day technology for the Kingdom! Also, please be praying since the Phoenix company we are partnering with to bring Liveprayer Mobile to the world, is working with its investors to supply Liveprayer with the $3 million we need to get the TV program back on nationwide October 1st. Pray as God works out all of the details that will enable us to be back, this time for good, on a national secular television network to bring God's Truth and the hope of Christ to our nation live for an hour 5 days a week!!!

I love you and care about you so much. As you can see, I have been very busy! I am more committed than ever to bringing the Truth of God's Word to this world and the hope we have in Christ to the lost. Liveprayer could have taken the same paved road everyone else did, preaching to the choir, going on Christian TV where you can raise millions every year and have such an abundance you can fly around in new private jets and live in 10 million dollar mansions. I'm not here to build a kingdom for Bill Keller, I'm here to build God's Kingdom! Even though I have to struggle just to survive from one month to the next, I do it because every month Liveprayer exists millions more lives around the world are impacted for Christ, thousands more come to know Jesus as their Savior, and the Truth is being boldly, visibly, and clearly broadcast in the marketplace! While everyone else battles to come up with creative new messages and ways to get Christians to give them money, I'll be at the State Fair, on Howard Stern, on the secular TV networks, and on your cell phone to preach the simple Gospel to the lost!!!

One of the side benefits is that with our new sales team that is being formed, the TV program will be able to sustain itself through advertising dollars after we get that morning program started in September. We also have our plans in place to be able to sustain the national program through ad revenues once we get one quarter of ratings under our belts. Also, there will be a nominal monthly fee for Liveprayer Mobile since we have to tap into the systems of each cell phone provider to make our services available, and unfortunately, they don't let you do that for free. So a byproduct of all of these new opportunities will be some revenues that will help us offset our monthly operating budget, taking much of the pressure off of that end of the ministry each month. Praise God!

I do have a small hurdle during August that I am going to need several people to help me overcome. We have apx $60,000 in air time and production costs for the new morning program that need to be met in advance. The way I keep control over the content of the program is by buying my way on to these networks, so for them it is business deal. I am praying toddy that there will be 12 people who by the end of the month who can send a one-time gif to $5,000 to help me cover that additional $60,000 we have to raise this month. I have no doubt there are 12 people who have been blessed by God and can make that one-time gift between now and the end of the month. Please pray, and seek the Lord about being one of those 12 I need.

Well, there you have it. God is good! Of course, this all means more work each day for those of us at Liveprayer, but that is what we are here for, to serve the Lord. Doing 2, hour-long "live" programs a day is not going to be easy, but I am looking forward to the challenge. I am also looking forward to our monthly special on Howard's Sirius channel, to the Florida State Fair next February, and to the launch of Liveprayer Mobile in September. Please be praying for me and all who are part of and associated with Liveprayer. I will keep pressing on to my last breath to bring one more person the hope we have in Christ. When my life is over and I stand before God, I don't want to regret not giving it everything I had in my service to the Lord.

Of course, nothing I have done in nearly 20 years of ministry has been possible without the prayers and support of so many wonderful friends like yourself. These past 8 yrs of Liveprayer have been amazing, as we get ready to launch into our 9th year, we are not slowing down or pulling back, but forging ahead with everything we have! Now more than ever I covet your prayers, and as you are led and able, your financial support so we don't have to spend lots of time and energy dealing with the financial issues as we work hard each day to make all of these new opportunities to reach the lost and hurting part our daily workload. May you and your family be richly blessed as we press forward to give every last soul the opportunity to know Jesus!!!