[Today’s post is part of a monthly series featuring Keynote alumni in their current roles.]
In the summer of 1978, Gary Combs decided to go on a summer project with the Music Ministry (Keynote) of Campus Crusade for Christ. Little did he know that summer would not only impact his life, but the life of his son, Stephen. When Stephen was thinking about his summer plans in 2003, he naturally thought of Keynote. Recently, Stephen told us a little more about his journey and how God has been using what he learned that summer in his current role as Worship Pastor of Wilson Community Church.
“I first heard about Keynote Summer Project through my dad. He always spoke so fondly of his memories with the ministry there, and I had hopes that I would be able to go on a summer project with Keynote ever since I was a kid.
Being a part of Keynote and seeing how passionate the staff were about their lives and walk with God was very inspiring to me. Something that stuck with me from that day was when one of the staff said, “I just keep waiting for the day to come when I get a REAL job, and then I realize that I am working a real job. This is the life.” I knew from that day that I wanted to find a job when I graduated college where I could say that. [click to continue…]
Sometimes the simplest things we do make a great difference in another person’s life. David Pendleton, comedy ventriloquist with Keynote, knows that well.
For over 25 years David has been making people believe anything can talk, sharing the gospel and making people laugh. In that time, he’s received many encouraging comments from audience members. One snowy night after his show, he heard a compliment that he’ll never forget.
A woman approached him with her young daughter, Beth. Beth had a warm smile and was very sweet. The mother told David that she was so glad to be at his show with her two sons and Beth. She said that it was wonderful to be able to laugh together as a family. Her eyes grew misty as she explained that there hadn’t been much laughter for them since her husband had taken his own life. [click to continue…]
As we begin a new year, we would greatly appreciate your prayers. Here are some prayer requests for 2012 representing Keynote’s three outreach lanes and our opportunities to minister internationally.
Digital Media Resources: Reaching the digitally-native generation with the gospel of Christ through social media and mobile technology.
- Pray for us to partner and teach well as we seek to resource and empower ministry leaders to do evangelism and discipleship through digital strategies and tools.
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Pray for the team as they strive to be on the forefront of ever changing technologies and continue with existing projects such as MissionHub (an online follow-up system) and God Tools (smartphone app).
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Pray that we will connect with the right people as we continue to offer MissionHub to other ministries, and that as we make changes to meet the needs of users, each step would move us forward and not break things that had been working.
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Pray for us as we update God Tools and translate it into multiple languages.
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Pray for stamina and balance as each person on the team has many responsibilities to prioritize.
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God is doing remarkable things through Keynote and has blessed our ministry abundantly this year. He has given us opportunities to share His message with over 36,000 people all over the world, and see 2,884 people indicate a decision to receive Christ. Here are just a few of Keynote’s ministry highlights from 2011:
[In 2011 Keynote celebrates 45 years of ministry. We thought we would use our Friday posts to look back on God's faithfulness through the years.]
Mongolia is predominantly Buddhist, although many are “culturally Buddhist” without a strong tie to the faith. When Keynote’s acoustic band, blue sky nine, toured there in October 2009, less than 1% of the people were Christ-followers. In light of this, the stories of what God did through the team during those two weeks are quite significant.
- The band’s first concert was on a campus in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Most of the 400 in the audience were students, but since the concert was open to the public there were also many families and adults. Of those 400 people, 199 filled out comment cards, and over 100 indicated a new decision to begin a relationship with God.
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Band members Ryan and Holly Menzer were walking to dinner one night. A girl walking nearby heard them chatting and asked if they would talk with her to help her practice English. Over the course of the conversation, they not only shared the gospel with her and led her to Christ, but also connected her to the local student ministry for follow-up.
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