October 2007 eLetter
On April 16, 2007, we all watched with horror as news of the Virginia Tech shootings unfolded. As the hours went by, the death toll grew higher. Thirty-two students and faculty members lost their lives that day by the hands of one man, a fellow student. The day after the shootings, Margie received an e-mail from a couple who works with students at Virginia Tech. Wanting to give the community time to try and process what happened, we immediately agreed to come, and the meetings were scheduled for the fall. On October 9, I, along with Joe Boot, visited the campus for two days, delivering an open forum each evening, while Joe spoke to faculty and local area pastors each day.
It was truly an honor and a privilege to be amongst the people of Virginia Tech and Blacksburg those two days. I closed the open forum by telling the community, "Virginia Tech, there is a purpose for you. He will bless you and make you bright lights. May you be the one that God will use in a world that is dark." And that is my prayer for us as a team and for you, our dear friends of RZIM. Without you this would not be possible. May God use each and every one of us to be His light and His love to our communities, our cities, and our world that needs both.
- "A Slice of Infinity" is aimed at reaching into the culture with words of challenge, words of truth, and words of hope. By stirring the imagination and engaging the mind, we want to share the beauty and truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "A Slice of Infinity" is essentially our gift and invitation to you, that you might further examine your beliefs, your culture, and the unique message of Jesus Christ. Click to read today's Slice or access our archives.
- The RZIM Foundations curriculum is here! Designed to introduce a comprehensive range of apologetic arguments and strategies, and featuring lectures by RZIM's team of apologists, students of this rigorous curriculum will become adept at recognizing the many worldviews influencing our culture and equipped to challenge the assumptions of these worldviews. The first volumes are by Michael Ramsden, Stuart McAllister, Alister McGrath, and Ravi Zacharias and tackle the subjects, An Introduction to Apologetics, Truth and Reality, The Existence of God, and Establishing a Worldview. Each study is available individually, allowing you to craft your own experience according to your needs and interests. Complete with an in-depth workbook, you will find the studies foster not only knowledge but also cultivate the skills to communicate that knowledge in a way that is winsome and effective. These first four volumes are available to order on November 5 (please visit this link ON or AFTER 11/05).
Where in the World is RZIM? Highlights from across the globe...
United States
Ravi Zacharias
Ravi began the month by speaking to the students and faculty at Virginia Tech on October 9. He spoke personally with the families of shooting victims and in two open forums on the theme "Finding Answers amid Life's Greatest Losses." This was a difficult assignment but the response has been very positive with estimates of over 4500 attending the student open forum.
Ravi spoke at the annual Atlanta Christian Assembly Convention on October 13-14 and then in Pennsylvania for a series of meetings including the Ritter/Moyer lectureship held at the Evangelical School of Theology on the topic of "Communicating Christ in a Postmodern World." On October 19 he spoke at the Friends of Evangelical Banquet held at Calvary Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before delivering two messages at the Calvary Chapel there. Please pray for Ravi as he ends this series of domestic talks and gets ready for a set of international travels at the end of this year.
Stuart McAllister
Stuart was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from October 2-4 where he spoke at Whitehall Covenant Church. Following this Stuart had the unique privilege to speak at ABWE (Association of Baptist for World Evangelism). He spoke all week on topics regarding cultural changes. Stuart says, "The pastors are sensing the vast drift going on, and often lack tools and resources to respond." He was pleasantly surprised midweek by being asked to speak to the ABWE staff. He says, "They were very warm, and it was a real privilege to share with them." On October 18, Stuart addressed businessmen at a luncheon where he shared his personal testimony and answered questions at the Latimer House in Birmingham, Alabama. He presented a message entitled, "Jesus in the Marketplace of Ideas," part of a seven-lecture series entitled, "Seven Questions Everyone Should Know the Answers To." At the end of the month, Stuart will be Utah for a series of massages.
Alison Thomas
Alison spoke at Pine Cove Christian Camps in Tyler, Texas, this month. Her audience was a group of college students who are a part of a Christian leadership training program. She spoke to them about the importance of defending the Christian worldview and responded to many questions about leadership, calling, spiritual disciplines, and apologetics.
United Kingdom
Michael Ramsden and Amy Orr-Ewing
Michael spoke at several evangelistic events this month. He began by speaking at an Alpha Course launch at St Andrew's, Oxford, followed by a men's breakfast in Burford, England. There was an extremely positive response from people on both occasions. He then went to Bergen, Norway, and gave an evangelistic talk to a group of around 1500 students, including Christians and non-believers. He also conducted training sessions for nearly 30 committed evangelists between 20 to 30 years old. Please pray that God will bless those students and that those being trained will gain a greater passion and confidence for the gospel. A follow-up trip is now scheduled for 2009. Michael then returned to England for a message on Sunday, October 14, at Wycliffe Baptist Church in Reading, where he spoke at both a morning and an evening service and took part in an apologetics seminar in the afternoon. Michael took some of the OCCA students with him to give them some experience with handling Q & A sessions. He then spoke at Alpha at St Aldate's church on October 16 on the subject, "Why Did Jesus Die?" At the end of the month, Michael will address a student event in Oxford.
In response to Michael's suggestion of sending all the Lords and Members of Parliament at Westminster a copy of Alister McGrath's book The Dawkins Delusion, The Zacharias Trust formed a joint initiative with CARE to accomplish this task. They mailed the books at the beginning of the month with an explanatory letter regarding the ongoing debate between atheists and Christians. Please pray that this book will be well-received and that it will be read by those who have been influenced by Dawkins and the other authors who wish to see Christianity marginalized in society. Please pray that this book will speak to those in the British government and that their eyes might be opened to Christ.
Amy Orr-Ewing is busy preparing lectures and curriculum for the OCCA program. The OCCA students are settling in well; their lectures began the first part of this month. Aside from work with OCCA, Amy spoke at Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, on Sunday, October 14. This is one of the churches in Cambridge attended by a large number of students, including many first year students. On October 23, Amy left for Phoenix, Arizona, where she will be speaking for five days.
The UK office is proud to have Nathan Betts joining the team as Michael's travel assistant for the year. Nathan comes from Canada and attended the OCCA year course last year. Please pray that his year will be a fruitful one working for both the Zacharias Trust and St Aldate's church (where he will be working part-time with students.)
John Lennox, whom many of you may know from the UK summer school, participated in a debate with Richard Dawkins on October 3. It went very well and was a sold out event, even garnering a favorable write up in The Wall Street Journal.
Thank you very much for praying for Michael's and Amy's speaking events and travels.
India
The Indian office began their month by hosting an Executive Team Meeting held in Shillong. The regional and functional heads of RZIM LFS met to evaluate the past six months of ministry and to discuss and plan for the future ministry in India.
Cyril Georgeson spoke at the Full Gospel Church, Shillong, on the topic "True Spirituality in the Modern World" to around 80 people on October 3. He has been busy throughout the month addressing groups of people in Shillong and Dehli and conducting very effective Q & A sessions with them. On October 14, he preached at Kingdom International, Delhi.
Neil Vimalkumar had a unique opportunity to speak to employees at a leading software company in Chennai on October 9. The topic was "Rush Hour: Taking Stress in Your Stride." It was a generic presentation but given from a biblical perspective. A requirement was that religion and politics would not be brought into this forum. He held his second open lecture there on October 23 with the third to follow in November.
The one-day retreat at Vellore on October 13 organized by the Andhra Christian fellowship went off very well. There were about 45 people in attendance and nine people who committed or recommitted their lives to Jesus Christ.
Rev. Arun Andrews ministered to RZIM well-wishers on October 21 at an event in Calcutta where he spoke on "Pain, the Great Apologist: Building Bridges in a Broken World." He then spoke at Calcutta Christian Fellowship; prominent sports figures attended and heard his message.
Dr. Balajied Nongrums spoke to young people of the Umpling Presbyterian Church in Shillong, on the topic "Issues Facing the Christian Youth Today." He also preached at the evangelical union discipleship training camp on October 20.
Canada
The entire Canadian staff is busy preparing for the upcoming Augustine Institute from November 16-18.
Rachel Tulloch spoke at two of Toronto's universities on October 23 and 25 on "Exodus: God of Promise and Freedom." After a poll was taken on the campus of York University, the location of her message on October 25, students said their top three questions were "Why is there pain and suffering in the world? What happens after death? What is the meaning of life?" She was very excited to minister to the students amidst these questions and conducted very lively sessions.
The team has secured a location for their "Capture the Wonder of Christmas" event, which they are praying will draw people from all over the province to hear the Gospel message during the Christmas season.
Singapore
L.T. Jeyachandran concluded his teaching in Dubai at the beginning of the month and returned to Singapore on October 13.
On October 16, I'Ching Thomas conducted training on the topic of sexuality for the staff of Singapore Campus Crusade. The program is intended to equip the CC staff as they prepare for next year's focus on this topic as a point of engagement in evangelism on college campuses in Singapore. On October 21 and 23 she presented a training session to the medical and dental students of Singapore Campus Crusade on "Sexuality within the Christian Worldview."
Middle East
Christopher Darla traveled to Muscat on October 11 to discuss the future of RZIM in the Middle East at the Middle East Prayer Break-Through meeting.
LT spoke at a seminar in Dubai on October 13 and gave a message entitled, "Loving God with All of Our Minds" to over 100 people.
Daniel Khouri made a trip to Jordan to meet with Pastor Yousif Hashweh and discuss implementing RZIM initiatives in the Middle East. Daniel is also working steadily on finding translators for many RZIM materials.
In fact, the entire Middle East office is focusing quite heavily on media, translations, and training ministries right now. They are also working on publicity and advertising for Sense and Sensuality: Jesus Talks to Oscar Wilde, which is being translated and published in Turkey this month.
Please know that we are here to serve you in any way that we can. Feel free to contact us by phone at (770) 449-6766 or via our website, www.rzim.org.
May God bless you,
Ravi Zacharias
President
Ravi Zacharias International Ministries
4725 Peachtree Corners Circle, Ste 250
Norcross, GA 30092
770.449.6766
P.S. If you're interested in learning more about making a gift to support the ministry of RZIM or learning more about various unique gift opportunities through gift annuities, Estate Planning, or stock gifts, please contact Jeanette Chuquiure at (800) 448-6766 or click here if you would like to donate online.