In thinking about writing this letter, I looked back at the very first ministry letter we wrote in February, 2001 to explain our decision to join Exchanged Life Ministries Texas. It began like this:
For many years, certain questions drifted in and out of our minds—more pronounced at times but submerged when life was full and busy. Questions like: Where is this abundant life the Lord promised in John 10:10? Why, after living the Christian life so long, are we still being defeated by the same sin patterns? Why are we not experiencing God’s peace and rest in the midst of adverse and trying circumstances?
After explaining how we were impacted by hearing, “God never intended for you to live the life that only Christ can live in and through you” and similar teaching, we then wrote the following in that first letter:
The Lord showed us we had been living much of our lives out of self-effort. He revealed to us that He has designed us to be His vessels through which His resources and sufficiency would flow. We realized for the first time that He didn’t want to “help” us (assist our self-effort) live the Christian life but He actually intends to live in and through us! We had no idea at the time, the impact this teaching would have on our future direction.
After sending this letter, we were advised to begin meeting with everyone we knew to basically offer a plea for support. That did not feel right to us and after only three of those types of meetings we decided to spend our time ministering as God brought opportunity and see what happened. If it took selling our home and possessions, we were ready!
However, an amazing thing happened: By June of 2001, we had all the support needed to stay where we were and keep what we had! So Bill was off to the races and I hung onto his coattails. He often characterized himself as being “high maintenance” and I was happy to be maintenance engineer.
In early 2003, Bill began to dream about forming a ministry that would focus on connecting with pastors and speaking in their churches. By mid-2004, we were in San Antonio. As I was getting us settled into our new home, Bill began teaching classes in a meeting room at an assisted living facility. From there, he made contacts with pastors and taught classes in their churches, spoke at retreats and conferences and did a lot of one-on-one discipling and mentoring.
Then the writing began—and didn’t stop until 3 months before he went home to the Lord. And actually he was talking about the next thing in his final month. A friend told me recently that he attempted to encourage Bill to slow down a bit those last couple of years. His response: “You have to understand–I’ve got a short runway.” So somehow he knew.
Now we enter a new era for Christ is Life Ministries. As you read in our October newsletter, we’ll begin to function as a self-supporting ministry in 2026 and beyond. We have three Board members in place (Jim Barker, Lee Blackwell and myself) to oversee function and expenditures. Our prayer is that God will continue to take the available material far and wide and use it however He desires. How humbling to realize He really has done that and will continue to do so through what Bill left us. God indeed uses available vessels!
How can I begin to express my gratitude to all of you who have loved, encouraged, prayed and given financially during these fruitful years? I don’t know! But my heart overflows as I think of how you have been one with us in this desire and endeavor to communicate the rich resources available to every believer through Jesus Christ. The ties that bind us are eternal. We could never have done this without you!
So now, as Bill would say to us: “Let’s go out there and see God set some captives free!”
To God be the glory,
Paige
(Those of you who made a donation in 2025 will be receiving a giving statement by email in January.)
