As we celebrate our twenty-first anniversary
I would love to take a moment to reflect on our great success. Needless to say we have seen some smooth days and some rough days but through it all we kept right on going. I am sure you are wondering about the secrets of our success and I am about to share just a few with you now.
Over the years we remained faithful to the vision, we did not seek to do our own thing nor quarrel among ourselves. We did not have one family crowning themselves church royalty and becoming oblivious to the needs of other people.

We had very strong marriages where wife trusted their husbands and submitted to their leadership. This of course led to stable well grounded children who grew up in the fear of God. Needless to say they had no burdens of poor examples and family strongholds passed down from generation to generation.

We esteemed our Leaders highly and encouraged them with our words and our financial support. We ensured our leader will never have to worry about anything beyond taking care to watch after the flock of God. We are now assured that his later years are amply provided for. The appreciations we gave him over the years were out of this world and every visiting Minister commended us for our love and support.

We guarded our tongues and kept our minds and hearts pure regarding other people. There was  never any fear of their business being out in the street, of them feeling looked down upon or betrayed. As a result we retained the hundreds of people God allowed to be touched by us as they never felt their stuff threatened by our greed or low self esteem.

We functioned well in the roles we were assigned in the Church having conquered our efforts to walk in the word of God and the principles of His Kingdom. We know what it is like to be content with godliness and to lend and not borrow. We experience the joy of seeking the Kingdom first so that there was no lack in the house of God even if our own obligations seemed in jeopardy. As a result there was no need to make excuses and blame everyone else for our failure. We did not have to credit the devil with holding back God’s own people for whom he paid the ultimate price.

Our greatest achievement has been in the area of love, the greatest of all spiritual fruit. It has given power to be welcoming and open to everyone. It constrained us to share our lives and our faith with everyone. Our Elders made their homes replicas of the Church and taught men and women in the things of God without regard for their own preferences. Small groups and believers sprung up everywhere and the Church’s success came as a result of our success.

You may have heard of our pride and joy, the ultimate gift to our Savior for his priceless gift of salvation. We took the challenge to make our lives about reaching another person for his name each and every year, each of us without fail. The result is well documented as the original seven of us became fourteen in one year, twenty-eight in three, then Fifty-six in the fourth, then to the staggering numbers below.

112 in 5yrs,
224 in 6yrs,
448 in 7yrs,
896 in 8yrs,
1,792 in 9yrs,
3,584 in 10yrs,
7,268 in 11yrs,
14,336 in 12yrs,
28,672 - 57,344 in13yrs,
114,688 in 14yrs,
229,376 in 15yrs,
458,752 in 16yrs,
917,504 in 17yrs,
1,835,008 in 18yrs,
3,670,016 in 19yrs,
7,340,032 in 20yrs,
14,680,064 in 21yrs.

This year at our current rate we would reach 29,360,128 people and this is why we are celebrating our 21st anniversary. As I always do I thought I would just look back and recount where we have come from over the years. We have nothing to be ashamed of RMI. Our record is so clear it is enough to make you weep. For you naysayers out there who are reading this with skepticism I say it does not matter what you think. This is my story and I am sticking to it. I grant you one thing, I am a little shaky about whether this is the future or was it the past or is it just a dream. Whatever it is Refuge; this is the way we were!

"It's Just A Thought"

Happy Anniversary

EF

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