Take a Risk! ...moving believers from the sidelines to the front lines

A monthly publication from Risk Takers for Christ

Volume 10, Issue 6June 2019

In this issue...

CaliforniaDreamingFind out moreabout Dale’sdream and howyou can help.

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Olde Hickory GolfClassicCheck out photosfrom our annualgolf classic.

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Seeing the BigPictureA devotional byOs Hillman.

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www.risktakersforchrist.org

Be Thou My Visionby Rev. Dale M. Glading, President

Be Thou My Vision is a traditional Christianhymn whose words are based on a sixth-cen-tury Irish poem by Dallan Forgaill. The morecommon English version was translated byEleanor Hull in 1912. Since 1919, it has beencommonly sung to the Irish folk tune, Slane.

Now for the application...

When I launched Risk Takers for Christ in2011, my goal was to “light a fire” under myfellow Christians. Having been a believersince 1977 and involved in prison ministrysince 1987, I had witnessed first-hand a ten-dency amongst churchgoers to slip into a stateof spiritual complacency. They had their “fireinsurance” and were on their way to heaven,but it was all too easy to rest on those laurels.

Play it safe - avoid major sins - but don’t takeany chances. Just get to the “finish line” withas few bumps and bruises as possible.

Well, that wasn’t good enough for me and I’msure it’s not good enough for God. In fact,Jesus taught on that very subject in Matthew25, the Parable of the Servants, in which Hecalled one servant “wicked and lazy” forburying his Master’s talents.

And so, I embarked on a motivational min-istry, doing as much speaking and writing onthe subject as possible. However, over thepast eight years, Risk Takers has evolved into

more of an “action” ministry than a teachingone. Simply put, we have become best-knownas a ministry to prisoners and at-risk youth,putting our faith into practice by ministeringto the least, the lost and the lonely.

I am still more than glad to host one of ourDare 2B Daring men’s conferences, to preachat revival services, or to speak at a missionsconference. However, it seems as if God hasbrought me back to my prison ministry roots,while adding a twist by including what I call“preventative ministry” to at-risk youth.

That being said, I have spent the past severalmonths - actually the past several years - ask-ing God to help me set some goals for RiskTakers as we seek to please Him by maximiz-ing our ministry potential. What follows ismy/our/His vision for the future of RiskTakers for Christ.

1. To expand our Living H2O Initiative byrecruiting and establishing additional volun-teer teams so that we are ministering to at-riskyouth somewhere in Indian River County 5-7days per week. Who knows, maybe Godwants this ministry model to be copied inother parts of the country, too.

2. To form additional prison ministry basket-ball, softball and soccer teams in order to bet-ter reach the 100,000 inmates in the FloridaDepartment of Corrections.

3. To conduct an annual prison ministry trip

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Special Vision Issue

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to Kenya, where we last ministered in 2014. We contin-ue to receive invitations to return to that spiritually-hun-gry country on a regular basis.

4. To exponentially grow the readership of our Dare 2BDaring daily devotionals and our monthly newsletter,Take a Risk.

I realize that’s a pretty full plate, but I’m not getting anyyounger, Jesus is coming back soon, and an estimated80,000 souls enter a Christ-less eternity every day.

Will you help Risk Takers for Christ reach those goalsby praying, giving and volunteering as you are able? Iam asking God to touch the hearts of His people to seeall of these things - and more - accomplished over thenext 10 years.

May my vision be His, His vision be mine, and ourvision be yours.

Be Thou My Visioncontinued from page 1

Be Thou My Vision (lyrics)Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be allelse to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best Thought, byday or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence mylight.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; I everwith Thee and Thou with me, Lord; Thou my greatFather, I Thy true son; Thou in me dwelling, and I withThee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight; Be Thoumy Dignity, Thou my Delight; Thou my soul’s Shelter,Thou my high Tow’r: Raise Thou me heav’nward, OPow’r of my pow’r.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise, Thou mineInheritance, now and always: Thou and Thou only, firstin my heart, High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thouart.

High King of Heaven, my victory won, May I reachHeaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun! Heart of my ownheart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

California Dreamingby Rev. Dale M. Glading, President

Written by John and Michelle Phillips and recorded bythe Mamas & the Papas in 1965, California Dreamingwas ranked #89 by Rolling Stone on its list of the 500Greatest Songs of All Time.

Well, I promise I won’t sing, and this article has nothingto do with California, but I do have a dream that I’d liketo share with you. It starts with a white Ford Econolinevan...

Basically, my dream is to purchase a 12-seat van withadequate storage in the back. Not only would we use itto transport our sports teams to prisons throughout theState of Florida, but we would also use it as part of ourLiving H2O Initiative.

Imagine, if you will, our van pulling up at a neighbor-hood park with our Risk Takers for Christ logo embla-zoned on the side. Out pours a team of volunteers readyto engage local youth in a friendly game of basketball,and to share the gospel - and God’s love - with them.

First, they hand out sports-themed gospel literature.Then, they distribute free bottles of ice-cold water. Andthen they open the back of the van and hand out freesneakers and basketballs that have been donated by areasporting goods stores and/or purchased at steep dis-counts.

Just a dream? Maybe. I guess it all depends on whetherI’m the only one seeing it in my sleep or if you - andothers - are having the same dream, too.

If you would like to help make my dream a reality,please email me at dale@risktakersforchrist.org or sim-ply make a donation to our new Van Fund. You candonate online at www.risktakersforchrist.org or by mail-ing a check to PO Box 651421, Vero Beach FL 32965

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Quips & Quotes About Vision“The only thing worse than being blind is having sightand no vision.” - Helen Keller

“The person who sees the difficulties so clearly that hedoes not discern the possibilities cannot inspire a visionin others.” - J. Oswald Sanders

“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on theground.” - Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt

“You can't stop dreaming, just because the night neverseems to end.” - Curtis Tyrone Jones

“It is the size of my vision and not the size of the chal-lenges that will dictate the size of my accomplishments.”- Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The future belongs to the dreamers, not to the critics.The future belongs to the people who follow their heartno matter what the critics say, because they truly believein their vision.” - Pres. Donald Trump

"The future belongs to those who see possibilities beforethey become obvious." - John Sculley

"Vision is the art of seeing the invisible." - JonathanSwift

“If the dream is not bigger than me, I have mistaken anidea for a dream.” - Craig D. Lounsbrough

"Vision without execution is hallucination.” - ThomasEdison

“Vision is not enough. It must be combined with venture.It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up thestairs.” - Vaclav Havel

"If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people togetherto collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work,but rather teach them to long for the endless immensityof the sea." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"In order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles." -David Ben-Gurion

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim istoo high and we miss it, but that it is too low and wereach it." - Michelangelo

Pictures from our 3rd Annual Olde Hickory Golf Classic

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Take a Risk! is a publication of Risk Takers for Christ, PO Box 651421, Vero Beach FL 32965-1421. Excerpts may be published or reproduced providing proper attribution is given.

Our Staff & Board MembersRev. Dale M. Glading, PresidentRev. Larry “Chap” Lilly, Vice PresidentChristopher Glading, Director of Programs andPublicityRebekah Bailey, Director of Communications Trustees: Rev. Thomas Griffin, Michael Kelley, SteveNavarro, Dr. Matt Parris, Rev. Greg SempsrottAdvisory Council: Robert Bartosz, Steve Schoch

Upcoming Risk Takers Events:w June 8: Basketball at Lake CI, Clermont FL

w July 13: Basketball at Sumter CI, Bushnell FL

w August 10: Basketball at Marion CI, Lowell FL

w September 14: Basketball at Avon Park CI, AvonPark FL

Pictures from the Christianresources table at our Living H2O

Initiative

Seeing The Big Pictureby Os Hillman, TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1

"Everything is against me!" (Genesis 42:36)

Eventually, Benjamin along with Jacob's other sonslearned that their brother Joseph was second in com-mand in Egypt. Joseph revealed his identity, and Jacobwas reunited with his son whom he had not seen formore than 13 years. He had thought Joseph to be dead.

So often we believe our dreams are dead. There seems tobe nothing left in our world to live for. Everythingappears to be against us. During these times, God isdoing His deepest behind-the-scenes work. During thesetimes, God is performing a deeper work in each of us - awork that cannot be seen.

When clients began leaving my ad agency and it driedup for no apparent reason, it appeared "everything wasagainst me." I could not see that God was orchestrating awhole new calling on my life. At the moment, it seemedlike the worst thing in the world. It seemed that I hadbeen a failure. But God said, "No." All the years beforehad been preparation for what God's ultimate callingwould be. One of God's methods for directing His chil-dren's steps is through drying up resources: a job loss, acareer change, or a disaster. In these times we are willingto listen more intently, and to seek God in ways wewould not normally do. C.S. Lewis once wrote, "Godwhispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our con-science, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone torouse a deaf world." [C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain(New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1962), 93.]

Reprinted by permission from the author. Os Hillman is an interna-tional speaker and author of 15 books on workplace calling. Tolearn more, visit http://www.MarketplaceLeaders.org"