Advent—When King Jesus Comes Near

This story was originally shared in a letter to our Gospel Partners in March 2025. Learn more about becoming a Gospel Partner!

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” Luke 4:18-19 

In the Kingdom of Heaven, some stories keep building on themselves—that's the power of multiplication. In September, I wrote a letter titled “Into the Darkness with a Backpack” detailing the Church planting movement that had begun in a country hostile to the Gospel.  As you may recall, about 12.5 years ago, we ventured into this country, preaching the Gospel and partnering with pastors to plant churches. By God's grace, we saw incredible results, including a church being planted in every village within the first county we entered. I also mentioned that the work continues and every month teams of Gospel preachers go to spread the Good News with amazing results.   

In late November/early December, our partners contacted us and shared they had been praying and fasting and felt the Lord was calling them to do a Christmas outreach in December to 65 villages with a goal of sharing the Gospel with 13,000 people or more.  This was a daunting task and one that would need financial partnership. They requested around $8,000 to fund this ambitious outreach. Because of your generous contributions to the General Fund, we had funds for special needs like this. As a result, our board was able to approve the necessary financial support. Because those funds were not needed up to that point in the year, our board was able to quickly approve of funding this outreach effort.   

On February 21^st we had a board meeting, and I was pleased to report that our partners had in fact done the Christmas outreach and here is what they reported: 

In November 2024, our network of mission workers came together for one day of prayer and intercession and seeking the Lord for his leading to conduct Christmas crusades in various villages.  After many prayers, the Lord guided all the mission workers in our network to organize outreaches in 65 different locations which a primary vision to share the Gospel with the non-believers and leaders in the village by cordially inviting them for Christmas celebrations and candlelight services.  It was a full month of labor and serving and by the grace of the Lord, we were able to sow the seeds and by his grace we have seen some fruit already but pray that we can see more this year.  We especially extend our heartful thanks to the board members for your timely prayer and financial support which has enabled us to do this project with lots of prayers and fasting.  Please continue to pray for more fruit and many souls to be added to the Kingdom of God.  

Christmas Outreaches Conducted – 65 Villages  

No. of people presented the gospel – 11,333  

No. of people responded to the gospel – 889 

No. of people healed through the power of prayer – 2,000+ 

What an amazing report!  Look what God did through your generosity!  Thank you!  The Gospel Partner program invites individuals to commit to giving $60 per month to support mission work like this. Why $60?  Our math in the past has shown that for every $60 given to Partner 135, we have seen 1 person accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  But it is a matter of averages, and this Christmas Outreach saw 1 person for every $9 given.  Praise the Lord for His increase!   

As the leader of Partner 135, I also run a small business that enables me to support mission work. In my business, I’m always looking for wise investments that yield a return. And I’ve learned that when it comes to Kingdom investments, God’s returns are far greater than anything we can imagine. I am a Gospel Partner investor because it is a great program with eternal rewards that keep compounding, like the example above.  I cannot think of a better investment of Kingdom resources than through the Gospel Partner program. Together, we can do even more for God’s Kingdom! 

Yours in Christ, 

Matthew S. Osborn  

President/CEO Partner 135