OMS Outreach January-March 2015 | Page 2
Behind the Scenes
January-April 2015
Tug-of-War
Volume 115, No. 1
Editor and Director of Communications
Susan Griswold Loobie
Associate Editor
Lori McFall
It was the end of my fourthgrade year when I first learned
about leveraging. In the final
days of school, we enjoyed
field days, full of races and fun
games. My teacher pitted the
boys against the girls in tugof-war. I was voted to take the
important anchor position at the
back. As fourth-grade girls, we really wanted to
beat the boys, so we dug into the sand and pulled.
But we soon realized we were out-muscled and a
certain loss was ours … until I buried my feet into
the sand and found a small piece of wood wedged
into the ground. Once I propped my feet against
that wood, I had leverage and thus, more strength
to pull.
That’s kind of how it is in ministry. Once we recognize where our leverage comes from—ultimately
we know that everything is from the Lord, but he
uses people, ministries, and materials—we gain
strength and power that we didn’t have on our own.
This issue of OMS Outreach is all about leveraging and the ripple effects of ministry … how God
uses special people, circumstances, and resources to advance his kingdom.
When this happens, people come to the Lord,
lives are changed, and God is glorified, and we all
win, just like the fourth-grade girls defeated the
boys at tug-of-war!
Editor, OMS Outreach
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2
Office of the President
OMS Outreach equips Christians to make disciples of Jesus
Christ through informative, inspiring, and involvement-driven
articles, which leads to deeper mission participation by serving,
giving, and praying.
Senior Graphic Designer
W. Foster Pilcher
President
Bob Fetherlin
Leveraging
My Weakness, God’s Strength
Executive Director of International Ministries
Randy Spacht
Affiliate Countries
Australia—Ian Bongers
www.omsaus.org
Canada—Mark Kroes
www.omscanada.org
New Zealand—Owen and Avalon Brown
www.onemissionsociety.org.nz
South Africa—Bruce Bennett
www.omssa.co.za
United Kingdom—Stephen Davidson
www.onemissionsociety.org.uk
United States—Rich Danzeisen
www.onemissionsociety.org
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Cover: Designed by Foster Pilcher
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unless otherwise noted.
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equips Christians to make disciples of Jesus Christ, multiplying dynamic communities of believers around the world.
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OMS then joins with those churches in global partnerships
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Copyright © 2015 One Mission Society.
All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
Power can be gained mechanically by using a lever with a fulcrum. In business, to leverage is
to use borrowed capital for an
investment, expecting the profits made to be greater than the
interest payable. Broadening
these ideas, leveraging involves
the interplay of forces leading to
advantage, influence, or power.
Recently, I visited Bellavista,
an over-crowded prison in Colombia. There, God
transforms desperate sinners, then uses them
in their weakness and brokenness to bring glory
to himself. “But God chose what is foolish in the
world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak
in the world to shame the strong; God chose what
is low and despised in the world, even things that
are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that
no human being might boast in the presence of
God” (1 Corinthians 1:27–29).
Paul, who wrote these words, served time in
prison … so did Joseph, Daniel, and John the
Baptist. They dared to believe that God could
leverage their weakness to make perfect his
strength. Prisoners understand brokenness, weakness, desperation, and guilt. Those who discover
Christ greatly value his pardon and redemption.
They are amazed that he can forgive and use them.
At one point in my visit, I sat face-to-face with
former murderers, kidnappers, armed thieves, and
drug dealers in an extremely cramped c