Winning Your Race Before It’s Too Late

5 MILLION NEW CHURCHES – 1 BILLION SOULS

Last week, doctors from across the US gathered to help launch Winning My Race.

Dear Visionary Leader,

Last week, Ben Lerner, Chris Zaino and James Davis gathered with hundreds of doctors from throughout the United States. After long arduous months, Maximized Living and Billion Soul have synergized their efforts together to launch globally Winning My Race. Ben and Chris consistently challenge the Billion Soul team to go the extra mile with a smile!

Every Christian is commissioned to “run the race that is marked out for us” (Hebrews 11:2). Throughout the centuries, since Christ first challenged His first disciples to go out and fulfill the Great Commission, men and women have chosen to run their individual races until they crossed heavenÂ’s finish line. It is important for every Christian to understand that they are not to run someone elseÂ’s race or to spend their life competing against another Christian. Each race is marked out uniquely for them. In essence, we do not create the race that we are to run; Christ designs the track for us.

Winning My Race is not about competing, but completing; not about how to be fast, but how to finish; not about being first, but being faithful; not about the super-talented being successful, but about the ordinary doing the extraordinary. Have you determined to win your God-given race? Some of the most familiar words are: “If only I had enough time; if only I had enough energy; if only I could do life all over again.” Ben Lerner and Chris Zaino show us with real practical methods to having enough time and energy to fulfill our divine destiny. Scripture states that God will take us from “glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Christ has won for us the victory (John 16:33). The apostle Paul ran “the good race” to finish it, and when he did, he “gloried” in Christ Jesus (2 Thessalonians 4:7-8; Philippians 3:3).

NETWORK NEWS

NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON BIBLICAL PREACHING

The North American Conference on Biblical Preaching convenes on September 7-9, 2011 at Cross Point Community Church. Every full price registration will receive at least $1,000 of FREE ministry resources. This year’s presenters include Johnny Hunt, James Merritt, Stan Toler, Len Sweet, James Davis, Fred Luter, Jim Shaddix, Danny Akin and Philip Davis. The conference program is:

Wednesday:

The Word Becoming Flesh (John 1:1,2,14a)

Preaching From Gutenberg To Google
Preaching For Faithful Followers Of Christ

The Word Becoming Our Faith (John 1:12)

Thursday

The Word Becoming Our Focus (John 1: 14b)

Preaching To Connect With Any Audience
Preaching With The Text, Times And Truth

The Word Becoming Our Foundation (John 1:3, 10)

Preaching To Build Solid-Rock Christians
Preaching With Effective Invitations

Friday:

The Word Becoming Our Future (John 1:5)

Preaching To A Dark World
Preaching To Finish The Great Commission

There is limited seating for only 400! Be sure to register today and join us next month!

VISIONARY COACHING

Derek Redmond, from England, arrived at the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona determined to win a medal in the 400 meter race. Derek’s father Jim had accompanied him to Barcelona, just as he did for all world competitions.

As race time approached for the semifinal 400 heat, Jim headed up to his seat at the top of Olympic Stadium, not far from where the Olympic torch was just a few days earlier. The stadium was packed with 65,000 fans, bracing themselves for one of sport’s greatest and most exciting spectacles. The race began and Redmond broke from the pack and quickly seized the lead. Down the backstretch, only 175 meters away from finishing, Redmond, heard a pop in his right hamstring.

With his face pale and his leg quivering, Redmond began hopping on one leg, then slowed down and falls to the track. As he laid on the track, clutching his right hamstring, a medical personnel unit ran toward him. At the same time, Jim Redmond, seeing his son in trouble, raced down from the top row of the stands, sidestepped people and bumped into others.

As the medical crew arrived with a stretcher, Redmond told them, “No, there’s no way I’m getting on that stretcher. I’m going to finish my race.”

Then, in a moment that will live forever in the minds of millions, Redmond lifted himself to his feet, ever so slowly, and started hobbling down the track. The other runners have finished the race, with Steve Lewis of the U.S. winning the contest in 44.50. Suddenly, everyone realized that Redmond wasn’t dropping out of the race, but was actually continuing on one leg. He was going to attempt to hobble his way to the finish line.

Slowly, the crowd, in total disbelief, rose and began to roar. The roar got louder and louder. Through the searing pain, Redmond heard the cheers, but later stated, “I wasn’t doing it for the crowd,” he would later say. “I was doing it for me. Whether people thought I was an idiot or a hero, I wanted to finish the race. I’m the one who has to live with it.”

One painful step at a time, each one a little slower and more painful than the one before, and his face twisted with pain and tears, Redmond limped onward, and the crowd, many in tears, cheered him on. Jim Redmond finally got to the bottom of the stands, leaped over the railing, avoided a security guard, and ran out to his son, with two security people chasing after him. “That’s my son out there,” he yelled back to security, “and I’m going to help him.”

Finally, with Derek refusing to surrender and painfully limping along the track, Jim reached his son at the final curve, about 120 meters from the finish, and wrapped his arm around his waist. “I’m here, son,” Jim says softly, hugging his boy. “We’ll finish together.” Derek puts his arms around his father’s shoulders and continues to sob.

Together, arm in arm, father and son, with 65,000 people cheering, clapping and crying; they finished the race, just as they vowed they would. A couple steps from the finish line, and with the crowd in an absolute frenzy, Jim released the grip he had on his son, so Derek could cross the finish line by himself. Then he threw his arms around Derek again, both crying, along with everyone in the stands and on television worldwide.

Winning My Race will cause your spirit to soar and your faith in Christ to grow larger than before. This remarkable book will help equip both the physical and spiritual dimensions of our lives. Just like Redmond from England and Christians throughout the centuries, each of us has our “race marked out for us.” And, when we believe we have done all we can to win our race, and all of the odds seem stacked against us; our heavenly Father will come down the stair-steps of heaven to help us to finish and win the race that He had planned for us before the beginning of time.

Quitters never win and winners never quit! Let’s cultivate enough time and energy to fulfill our Christ-center destiny. Blessings.

Until The Last Person Has Heard,

James O. Davis
COCHAIR/Global Networking
COFOUNDER/Billion Soul