Thought Life
At the Council of Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, we just had the occasion of releasing some great news. Our financial intake grew 21% from 2013 to 2014. The overall gain was about $40,000. All glory to God for this serious uptick.
Here’s the official word:
The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood saw giving go up by 21% in 2014 – an increase of almost $40,000 – and plans to respond by providing more resources and reaching more people with the Bible’s teaching on marriage, biblical complementarity, and other related ethical issues, said Grant Castleberry, CBMW’s executive director.
“We are incredibly grateful for God’s graciousness in blessing us this past year,” Castleberry said. “We thank so many whom God has used, who have decided to partner with CBMW. We are humbled and pray that we will be faithful stewards of this investment.”
Read the whole press release. I would be remiss if I failed to note how thankful I am for Grant’s excellent work in fundraising in 2014. Great news like this is not to be taken lightly.
Let me give four quick thoughts on what this surge in funds means for us at CBMW.
1. It means that we are grateful to God. We do not presume on his kindness. We take nothing for granted. We know that Christians have many worthy causes to which to contribute. Further, we don’t exist for our own sake. We exist to provide resources and encouragement to Christ’s church. If he doesn’t want us to stay in business, we won’t stay in business. We don’t count our lives or existence precious. But as God does give blessing, even significant blessing, we will be grateful to him.
2. It means that our foot is on the gas. There is no time for waiting. There is no time like the present. We are going to steward this money to the best of our ability, and we are going to make every dollar, every penny, work. We have more opportunities than we can presently seize. Churches around the world want to partner with CBMW, not because we’re impressive, but because we stand for biblical truth and gospel wisdom.
So, full speed ahead. We’re not worried by the culture. We’re not scared by it. We’re thrilled that we’re right here, right now (with apologies to Van Halen). We live for this stuff. God and the gospel of his kingdom are poised to sweep over the world and push back the darkness. We’re tickled pink that we get to do our tiny part in this grand work. We love standing beside churches and organizations motivated by gospel love and dedicated to preaching gospel truth. We’re right here, and we have no plans of going anywhere.
3. It means that churches desire to partner with us for the benefit of the sheep. Throughout the world, there is a fierce hunger and craving for rich scriptural teaching. People are desperately confused about what manhood and womanhood are. We’re here to help. We’re an organization that will not hide our light. We will teach God’s Word from a winsome, convictional, gospel-driven standpoint. But we will say the hard words. We will confess the unpalatable truths. We cannot only speak generically of “relationships” and “parents.” Because they are resolutely and unavoidably biblical, we will use terms like “headship” and “submission.”
Many churches and parachurch organizations know this already, but many more want to proclaim it in increasing measure. They don’t care about pleasing the cultural thought-police. They want to please the Lord. They see that if a term is biblical, it’s never out of style. It never goes out of vogue. All of God’s teaching is pure and perfect (see Psalm 119). None of it is problematic or harmful. We certainly explain and exposit the Scripture, but that is a far cry from problematizing it or distancing ourselves from it.
Some in the “progressive” evangelical world may differ with us on this point. That’s their prerogative. But as for our house, we will serve the Lord, and we will use the words he has given us. We are not only willing to use them, but glad to do so. They are his words, after all. They are not ours. He owns them. He gave them to us.
4. It means that you should expect to see a bunch of new initiatives from us. In coming days, we’re going to go big in international terms. I won’t say any more there, but I am excited to get cracking in this area. We’ll be doing much more in media. We will announce a couple of major events that we’re currently planning. Expect to see a massive website update, too (the prelim plans look fantastic, but then again, I’m mildly biased).
CBMW has no promises for the future. We do, however, have a mandate: serve and strengthen the church in its promotion of biblical manhood and womanhood, the family, marriage, Christian singleness, and public Christian witness on these matters. Whether every year brings a 20% increase in funds or not, we’ve got our eyes locked on just that mandate.
If you’ve partnered with us to fulfill it, or will be doing so in coming days, thank you very much. To God be the glory.
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