A Math Question

Would you rather be given $1 million now or 1 penny today and double it each day for 30 days? Maybe you remember this question from a high school math class. While $1 million sounds like a lot all at once, starting with only 1 cent and doubling the amount each day for a month totals over $5 million! This is the power of multiplication.

I was reminded of this question recently by a video titled “The Power of Multiplication” created by Global Frontier Missions.

Consider: what if you were an evangelist bigger than Billy Graham in his prime? What if you could fill a stadium each day with 100,000 people? If 20% of your audience gave their hearts to Jesus at each event, this would be 7,000,000 decisions for Christ in only one year. This sounds amazing!

But do you know how long it would take to reach the 8 billion people in our world at this rate? Over 1,000 years.

What if, instead, you focused on leading one person to the Lord in a year? After the first year, there would be two Christians. If that number continued to double to four, eight, sixteen, etc., our entire world population of 8 billion could be reached for Christ in only 34 years.

This illustrates the power of witnessing for Christ when combined with intentional discipleship.

The Church of God (Holiness) World Missions Board realizes the power of discipleship in cross-cultural ministry and has chosen to focus its attention, prayers, and finances in this direction. In this year's edition of our annual magazine, The Harvest Report, we focus on the importance of discipleship at home and abroad and how it is being utilized in our current ministries. If you would like a copy, let us know!