Exciting News

God put it to me very bluntly the other day:

"While you're preparing, people are perishing."

I said, "But I can't do it myself."

He said, "Ask for help."

I said, "OK, help me."

He said, "No, ask the Body of Christ."

So I've got some pretty exciting news to share with you.

But first, a little background.

Even when we were still going to church, our biggest burden was for
discipleship.

We would see people going forward to receive the Lord, and then a
lot of them disappeared, and we always wondered what happened to
them.

So we have always focused on leading people down a simple,
Biblical, Christ-centered path towards spiritual maturity.

In 2002, I was hired by a certain Christian television network to
do just that.

Or so I thought.

They saw that I had a gift for helping people grow, and that I
understood how to reach people online, so they wanted me to direct
their online follow-up and discipleship program.

I accepted their offer, and they flew us down to Costa Rica to
visit one of the television stations to "get God's
vision" for the work.

Well, we got a vision all right - we just didn't know if they
could handle what God was showing us.

Because what we saw was a way to reach people with Christ-centered
teaching that emphasized Relationship instead of Religion.

I thought that's why they hired me in the first place.

As it turned out, our vision didn't match their vision, so I
was fired.

But we had already said that regardless of what happened, we knew
that God had given us a vision for Christ-centered discipleship
that would use the Internet to help people get the tools they
needed to grow spiritually RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE.

That's how The School of Christ came about, shortly after this
television ministry thing fell through.

Discipleship and Christ-centered spiritual maturity has been the
motivation behind every teaching, book, webinar, workshop, and
course we've written and produced ever since.

Fast forward to 2014...

I've written hundreds of articles, published more than a dozen
books, and recorded literally thousands of hours of Bible teaching.

I'm reaching a few thousand people every day with our daily
email messages.

Thousands of people have gone through our free online discipleship
course, "Embrace the Cross."

And yet, I still feel like we're only scratching the surface of
the original vision God gave us so many years ago!

In that vision, we were reaching EVERYBODY.

Not just out-of-church Christians.

Not just in-church Christians.

Not just people who "get it" and "see it" like
we do.

The vision, the message, and the gift was for THE WHOLE WORLD.

People say, "Chip, if you never do anything else, you've
already done enough."

I appreciate that.

But that's like telling a doctor in the middle of an Ebola
epidemic, "You've already saved enough people, so
don't worry about all the thousands of people still dying."

So many more people need to be touched.

People who don't know Jesus.

People who think they know Him, but don't.

People who do know Him, but still need help, encouragement, and
support from others.

It's bigger than me and Karla.

And frankly... it's bigger than just helping people who have
come out of church.

We're good at that.

But the whole world is dying.

I think we forget that sometimes.

We have become so concerned with being "in or out" of
church, each group trying to convince the other than
"their" way of doing (or not doing) church is the right
way, the only way, the Biblical way.

Right?

And while we're trying to figure out how to be/do/have church,
the rest of the world is wandering around in darkness.

If you aren't careful, you'll start thinking the darkness
is darker than the Light is bright.

You'll settle for hiding your light under a bushel, or just use
it to light the four corners of your tiny little room.

I have sensed that darkness this year and I have seriously
questioned if I am done.

This year has been terribly difficult for us, and for a lot of
people we hear from.

We have experienced almost total spiritual, emotional, and
financial bankruptcy this year.

And I know some of you are in the same place.

It's tempting to say, "I've done enough, because I
can't do anything else."

Instead, what God showed me is that I need to lift up my eyes and
set my sights higher.

He's been reducing us and getting us back to the heart of what
He wants us to do.

He reminded me of where the vision for The School of Christ came
from to begin with: to support a Christian television network that
would reach billions of people.

For the last ten years or so we've been building that support
system.

Now it's time to launch the platform for reaching those
billions and give them hope and encouragement.

That platform involves a new name and a new website to reach a new
audience.

No, we're not going to do it with satellite or cable television.

We're going to do it with Internet television!

Look...

I'm an author, and I'll always write.

But the world we live in wants to watch video.

Case in point: more than ONE BILLION unique users visit YouTube
EACH MONTH.

Internet video reaches more U.S. adults ages 18-34 than any cable
television network; but (more importantly) 80% of YouTube traffic
comes from outside the U.S.

That's the Harvest, just waiting to be harvested.

My old boss used to tell me, "It's going to take millions
and billions of dollars to reach the world!"

He was wrong.

We can do it now for a fraction of that.

But we need your help.

Here's what we're going to do...

We're going to create high-quality, streaming and on-demand
video programs that bring a Biblical perspective on current events,
family issues, and real-life problems that ordinary people are
concerned about.

We're going to bring in other people so they can share the
gifts and wisdom God has given them.

We're going to create an online community where people can
interact and support one another - we need to get the Body of
Christ helping each other.

And we're going to use The School of Christ to support anyone
who wants to go deeper in their relationship with God.

I realize I'm asking you to "take my word for it"
because I'm not ready to show you the website or reveal the
name just now.

We've been working on it behind the scenes and it's going
to be AWESOME when it's finally revealed!

But if you believe in what we have always stood for...

And if you're able and willing to help us....

Please go here to help us get this off the ground:
http://TheSchoolOfChrist.Org/give

Listen...

I know some of you may be struggling financially, and I'm not
asking you to give what you don't have.

I'm asking those of you who CAN to give what you can afford,
and only as the Lord leads.

Do you know why it has me taken over ten years to launch this?

Because in my pride I've always said, "I'll do it
myself."

I hate asking other people anything.

I REALLY hate asking people to give.

I don't even like asking for prayer!

But this isn't about me and my hang-ups and what I don't
like.

It's about believing in something, and knowing you can't do
it alone.

It's about you and me working together to fulfill God's
Kingdom and Purpose in the earth.

If you can't give, other ways to help include praying for us,
sharing this new website (to be announced) with other people, or
helping with the online community.

But right now, our most urgent need is for people who can support
us with a gift of any size to get the basic equipment, software,
tools, and services we need to produce high-quality programming
that is excellent and worthy of the Good News we're proclaiming
to the world.

Here's the link again:
http://TheSchoolOfChrist.Org/give

People are perishing... it's time to stop preparing and start
performing.

Thank you in advance... and I'll keep you posted on our
progress!


I am your brother,

Chip Brogden


PO Box 552, Canandaigua, NY 14424, USA