Dear Friends of Larger Story,
This year, I'll turn 76. I'm hearing Paul's words with more urgency: "The time that remains is very short" (1 Corinthians 7:29). Those words have got me thinking carefully about his instructions to "Make the best use of every opportunity in these evil days" (Ephesians 5:16).
Together with our little Larger Story & NewWay teams, with fresh energy I'm zeroing in on a vision for what I believe will prove to be the most substantial response we've ever made to the call of God on our ministry.
One word captures what is most alive in our hearts: LEGACY. With a passion that only advancing years can release, I long to provide now what God, as He chooses, can use for His purposes in people's lives for many years to come. For 40 years, I've been doing a balancing act between, on the one hand, teaching, speaking, traveling, and counseling and, on the other hand, thinking, writing, and recording. I'm strongly sensing God's call to tip the scales more toward communicating through books and videos. To write and record what is boiling over in my heart requires huge chunks of time I don't now have, to read, study, dialogue, digest, process, and pray.
Jeremiah once wrote that God's truth "burns in my heart like a fire" and that he was "worn out trying to hold it in" (Jeremiah 25:9). I'm obsessed with questions such as: what is the narrow road that leads to real life? What makes a woman feminine and a man masculine and how do feminine women and masculine men uniquely reveal something glorious about the trinity? How do we "parent" and "spouse" for the glory of God and for His purposes? How can we read our Bibles to really hear God? What lies beneath our emotional problems that only the gospel can deal with? How does real change happen? And how much change is actually possible this side of heaven in learning to relate like Christ?
Before years take their inevitable toll, I want to respond to those questions, and many more, in books and videos. We've committed ourselves to a three year plan to move into that vision. That plan involves cutting back on travel which means cutting back on income. I'm therefore asking Larger Story/NewWay friends to help free me to get in print and on camera what I'm "boiling over" to share.
Our brochure (which can be read here) details our vision, our need, and our request for help. If our three year plan is from God, and we believe it is, then He will provide the funds necessary to support the opportunity. I'm therefore at rest as I ask you to read the brochure and consider how you might be able to "buy time" for me to do all I can to create the Larger Story/NewWay Legacy. Thanks for whatever you can cheerfully give to help us "make the best use of every opportunity in these evil days".
Warmly in Christ,
Larry Crabb
