1. Art and Diseño

Volume 5, Issue 2
February 2015
Take a Risk!
...moving believers from the
sidelines to the front lines
A monthly publication from Risk Takers for Christ
In this issue...
Great Minds Think
Alike
A devotional
message from
Christopher
Glading.
- Page 2
Praying for
Prisoners
Encouragement to
put your love into
action.
- Page 3
Thank You!
Learn more
about our daily
devotional series.
- Page 4
Upcoming Events
- Page 4
Leaving the Ninety-nine
for the Three
by Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
“For the Son of Man has come to save that
which was lost. What do you think? If a man
has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes
astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and
go to the mountains to seek the one that is
straying? And if he should find it, assuredly,
I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep
than over the ninety-nine that did not go
astray.” Matthew 18:11-13 (NKJV)
On November 8th of last year, one of our
Risk Takers for Christ mission teams ministered at the Walkulla Correctional Institution
in Crawfordville, Florida. Hundreds of
inmates attended our program, which included a strength show by Lifted in Faith and a
powerful gospel message by Brad Hornback.
By the time we had finished, our team members were exhausted. They had gotten to bed
around 11:00 PM the night before after a full
day of ministry at two different prisons - only
to face a 4:00 AM wake-up call that morning.
Walkulla CI was a 90-minute drive from our
hotel and all we could think about was heading back to our rooms for a long nap.
But God had other plans…
Instead of heading northwest towards our
hotel, we drove two hours northeast to another prison. God had opened the door for us to
minister at the Suwannee Correctional
Institution in Live Oak on relatively short
notice - and so, we said “Yes”.
When we arrived at Suwannee, we were
surprised to learn that the chaplain hadn’t
advertised our visit nor had he opened up our
program to the entire prison population.
Instead, we were only going to be allowed
to share the gospel with less than two dozen
men.
Initially, we were a little deflated, having just
come off of a ministry “high” at Walkulla and
travelling so far out of our way to get to
Suwannee. However, as they say in show
business - as well as in ministry - “the show
must go on.” And so, without missing a beat,
Lifted in Faith gave it their all, Thomas
Griffin shared his poignant testimony and
Brad Hornback brought another inspired
gospel message.
Even though the 22 men in the small chapel
were members of the prison’s worship team,
we didn’t take it for granted that they were all
saved. Because of that, I gave the same invitation that I had given at Walkulla that morning…and at the other seven institutions where
we ministered on our “Gulf Coast for God”
Prison Project.
As is our practice, our team distributed evangelistic tracts and response cards to each man
there. In fact, the response cards were “handmade” because the crowds at the other institutions were so large that we had run out the
day before and had to stop at a local library
to run off hundreds of copies.
As we packed up to leave Suwannee, I took
a few minutes to review the response cards.
To my surprise - and delight - not just one,
but THREE inmates had made professions of
faith in Jesus Christ!
Circling around our van to pray before we left
the prison property, I made reference to the
continued on page 4
www.risktakersforchrist.org
"The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the
work of the Creator. Science brings men nearer to God."
Great Minds Think Alike
by Christopher Glading, Program Director
As Christians, we face great opposition in our world.
Almost every sector of life, whether it be business, family, school, or church, is witnessing the removal of God.
During these devotionals, I have attempted to take a scientific approach in order to apologetically defend the creation of the world by a sovereign, Almighty God. In this
particular devotional, I would like you to hear from other
men of science, ones much greater than myself. These
men accomplished truly remarkable things in their scientific careers and saw God through it all.
Lord William Thomson Kelvin was a Scottish mathematician and physicist. His contributions to science
include a major role in the development of the second
law of thermodynamics, the absolute temperature scale
(measured in kelvins), the dynamical theory of heat the
mathematical analysis of electricity and magnetism,
including the basic ideas for the electromagnetic theory
of light; the geophysical determination of the age of the
Earth,and fundamental work in hydrodynamics.
"Overwhelming strong proofs of intelligent and benevolent design lie around us ... the atheistic idea is so nonsensical that I cannot put it into words."
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician,
astronomer, and astrologer. He was a key figure in the
17th century scientific revolution and is best known for
his laws of planetary motion. His works Astronomia
nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican
Astronomy provided one of the foundations for Isaac
Newton's theory of universal gravitation.
"I am a Christian...I believe only and alone...in the service of Jesus Christ...In Him is all refuge, all solace."
Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist
renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He
reduced mortality from puerperal fever and created the
first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. He is best known to
the general public for his invention of the technique of
treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a
process now called pasteurization. He is regarded as one
of the three main founders of bacteriology, together with
Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch, and is popularly
known as the "father of microbiology".
Robert Boyle was an Irish 17th-century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor. Boyle is largely
regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore, one of the founders of modern chemistry and one
of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific
method. He is best known for Boyle's law, which
describes the inversely proportional relationship between
the absolute pressure and volume of a gas if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. Among his
works, The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone
book in the field of chemistry.
"From a knowledge of His work, we shall know Him.
Christ's passion, His death, His resurrection and ascension, and all of those wonderful works which He did
during His stay upon earth, in order to confirm mankind
in the belief of His being God as well as man."
James Prescott Joule was an English physicist and
brewer. He studied the nature of heat and discovered its
relationship to mechanical work. This led to the law of
conservation of energy, which led to the development of
the first law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of
energy, the joule, is named for James Joule. He worked
with Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute scale of temperature. Joule also made observations of magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current
through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is now
called Joule's first law.
"Order is manifestly maintained in the universe … the
whole being governed by the sovereign will of God."
Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and
zoologist who laid the foundations for the modern biological naming scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is
known as the “father of modern taxonomy” and is also
considered one of the fathers of modern ecology.
"Almighty Creator and Preserver of all things, praised be
all Thou has created."
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist
and philosopher of science. He developed the general
theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern
physics, alongside quantum mechanics. He is best known
in popular culture for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which has been dubbed "the world's most
continued on page 3
www.risktakersforchrist.org
Page 2
Great Minds Think Alike
continued from page 2
famous equation"). He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in
Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric
effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum
theory.
"I want to know how God created this world, I am not
interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of
this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest
are details. Science without religion is lame, religion
without science is blind."
Christians are often laughed at and counted ignorant for
their belief in God. Our faith is labeled blind and primitive. It is not in touch with scientific reason. However, as
is seen above, this cannot be further from the truth.
Listed, are some of the greatest minds in human history.
Without such men, our world as it is today simply does
not exist. These men were the most intelligent, intuitive,
and courageous of their time, and they wholeheartedly
believed in Creator God and His son Jesus Christ. I don’t
know about you, but when it comes to taking sides in
this debate, I would much rather stand with the likes of
Kepler, Pasteur, Boyle, and Newton.
Praying for Prisoners
Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician who is widely recognized as one of the most
influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in
the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis
Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy"), first published in 1687, laid the
foundations for classical mechanics. Newton made seminal contributions to optics and shares credit with
Gottfried Leibniz for the development of calculus.
by Judy Morgan, RTC Prayer Partner
Newton's Principia formulated the laws of motion and
universal gravitation, which dominated scientists' view
of the physical universe for the next three centuries. By
deriving Kepler's laws of planetary motion from his
mathematical description of gravity, and then using the
same principles to account for the trajectories of comets,
the tides, the precession of the equinoxes, and other phenomena, Newton removed the last doubts about the
validity of the heliocentric model of the cosmos. Newton
also built the first practical reflecting telescope and
developed a theory of colour based on the observation
that a prism decomposes white light into the many
colours of the visible spectrum. He formulated an empirical law of cooling, studied the speed of sound, and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his
work on calculus, as a mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalized the
binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, developed
Newton's method for approximating the roots of a function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves.
When we look into God's Word, we see love in its
most amazing form...in the heart of Jesus. "For God
so loved the world (you) that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever (you) believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 KJV
Does love get any better than this?
"Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system,
I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to
receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did
not happen by chance. The true God is a living, intelligent and powerful being."
The month of February is often known as "Heart
month" or "Love month" simply because of
Valentine's Day which is celebrated on February 14th.
But when it comes to love is this month really any
different? Why should anyone celebrate love on just
one day? Why should it just be celebrated with a special person or persons? These answers are found in
the confines of our society.
What about your love for Jesus? Mt. 22:37-39 NIV
says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and all your mind. This is the first
and greatest commandment. And the second is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself." I'm of the mindset
that Jesus is referring to everyone, ie your enemies,
prisoners, different races, difficult people in your
lives. Mt. 5:44, 46, 47 NIV says, "Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you, that you may
be sons of your Father in heaven." Verse 46 says "If
you love those who love you, what reward will you
get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" Verse
47 "And if you greet only your brothers, what are you
doing more than others?"
Praying is putting our love into action. Will you put
your love into action for the unlovable as well as the
lovable?
Let us pray.
www.risktakersforchrist.org
Page 3
Thank You
2014 flew by, and your devotion from December 31,
2014, like so many you’ve published and I’ve been
privileged to read since you visited Southside Baptist
Church several months ago, reminds me to approach
each day as if it’s my last day on Earth or the last day
before Christ returns. Thank you for the many challenges and blessings the Risk Takers for Christ devotions provide. Keep them coming in 2015! And, like I
challenged my young married couples class this past
week, “Be Seen in 2015” for Jesus Christ! Let Him be
seen in your life by those you come in contact with
each day. God bless your families and ministry.
-Paul Fazzini
Free Online Devotional
Our popular “Dare 2B Daring” daily devotional series
is available online at www.risktakersforchrist.org or
you can have a new devotional message emailed to
you absolutely free of charge each weekday. Please
subscribe by emailing [email protected].
Leaving the Ninety-nine
for the Three
continued from page 1
Bible passage that was printed at the top of this article.
And then, fighting back tears, I told my fellow team
members that God had caused us to minister at
Suwannee that day because three lost sheep needed to be
found.
Their names were Michael, Luis and Devin…and they
are now safely back in God’s fold.
Editor’s Note: In addition to leading Michael, Luis and
Devin to saving faith in Christ, we were privileged to
encourage the other 19 believers at Suwannee. Here are
some of their prayer requests…
Thomas - Please pray for healing in my body.
John - Please pray for my mother and my six-year old
daughter. I haven’t heard from them in three months.
Handy - I want to be an outreach minister when I get out
in 19 months.
Michael - Thank you for coming and please pray for my
headaches, my pain, my life and my kids.
Kendrick - For my family and me to grow stronger in
the Lord, and for protection for my four children.
Upcoming Risk Takers Events:
w February 7: Martin CI, Indiantown FL
w March 6: “Jailhouse Rock,” 50’s themed fundraiser
at First Church of God, Vero Beach FL
w March 7: Moore Haven CF, Moore Haven FL
w April 25: Sumter CI, Bushnell FL
w May 16: South Bay CF, South Bay FL
w June 6: Tomoka CI, Daytona Beach FL.
Paschal - For God to keep me safe as I leave this institution.
Phu - That my connection with God will always be
clear.
Robert - That my mom develops a relationship with
Christ.
Jeff - For a deeper walk with Jesus.
Robert - For God to help me feel better and for this time
to go fast.
Our Staff & Board Members
Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
Rev. Larry “Chap” Lilly, Vice President
Christopher Glading, Program Director
Rebekah Bailey, Director of Communications
Trustees: Chuck Bateman, Keith Cutting, Rev. Lance
Fancher, Thomas Griffin, Tom Kennedy, Chaplain
Louie Tropf
Advisory Council: Robert Bartosz, Steve Schoch
Stephen - That He would use His people here mightily,
bearing much fruit through us.
Albert - May God use me, my wife-to-be, my kids and
my grandkids to show the Light to the world.
Robert - Please pray for my wife. I haven’t heard from
her in a year.
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.
www.risktakersforchrist.org
Page 4