The Boys In The Boat

By now, you have been inundated with letters, calls, and emails from dozens of organizations seeking financial assistance at the end of 2023. I have been wrestling with this for weeks. It hasn't been procrastination. Asking for money is something I absolutely hate doing. So, I have prayed and waited for the Lord's leading.

Last Night...
I heard from Him in a crowded theatre.

Noemí and I saw The Boys in the Boat, the story of eight young men who came together from the direst of circumstances to win a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. It was the middle of the Great Depression. Families were destroyed, and children were abandoned. Eight young men struggled to finance their studies at the University of Washington. Rowing for the Huskies was simply a mechanism for them to have a room, sleep on a bed, get something to eat, and stay in school.

Struggling together, they became a team that won the hearts of impoverished, depression-era citizens back home. Many dug deep into their pockets to raise $5,000 at the last minute to pay unexpected team expenses. The boys in the boat shocked and delighted the world as Hitler seethed. In Berlin, a reporter asked their coach, "What did you see in those eight young men that others didn't?" He replied. "They weren't eight. They were one." That was a scripted line delivered by an actor. But it's what the Lord wanted me to hear… again!

On the last night of His life, Jesus prayed to His Father. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. - John 17:22-23

Jesus stepped out of heaven to gather twelve young men that no one thought anything about. He trained them within the incubator of a personal one-on-one relationship. One walked away at the last minute. But what about the others? The Apostles taught and trained the people of the Way, from house to house. When persecution came, they knew what to do and shocked the world. They were one.

These are crazy days. There are so many loud voices trying to get your attention. I do not want to be one of those. And that is why we are taking a different approach at Disciple Daily. I believe in the power of the One who gave all He had that we might be one with Him. I believe in the One who knew there was one person who had a small lunch. He would feed a crowd of 5,000 men, not including women and children, with it. Five loaves and two small fish were all that one boy had, but his lunch changed everything.

Disciple Daily is not trying to build a big ministry. I have benefited from the personal one-on-one discipleship training of those God placed in my life. The following names will mean nothing to most of you, but have meant everything to me. Steve Walker, Jack Meadows, Richard Ford, Russel Kelfer, Acie Johnson, Buzz Roman, Larry Heppes, Steve Troxel, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Noemí Francis, David Kidron, Ivan Bychkov, Andrii Petrenko, Nickolai Morari, Eugene Postolache, Rick Lowe, Gabe Francis, Keith Myer, Shlomo Ben Asher, and many others. Discipleship is a two-way street when it happens one-on-one. Each of those mentioned above, in their own way, continues to impact those we are connected to at Disciple Daily, one generation at a time.

This is December 27th. I am asking you today to do one thing. Ask God to provide you with one additional dollar every day for His work at Disciple Daily. Please send it to us once a month, for one year. That's about $30 a month. If you are already a donor, thank you. I am asking you to pray for others to make the decision you have already made.

I am asking God for 100 new monthly dollar-a-day donors by the end of this month.  Would you be one of them? Watch our website for a daily update on our progress. Perhaps, a hundred years from now, if the Lord tarries, someone will look back on us and say, “They were one.”

Blessings!
Arlie Francis