Help Us “Get the Word Out!”

What happens over the next few weeks is highly important for the future of Answers in Genesis. I think you’ll catch my excitement as you read on!

If you’ve been following our web updates, you know that we took a step of faith in wanting to open our Creation Museum debt-free. At the same time, we believed very strongly that it needed to open in Spring 2007.

As we head towards this exciting time, we remain busy with many other Bible-upholding, evangelistic outreaches that provide answers against attacks on the authority of the Word. We constantly strive to proclaim the gospel to a lost world. That’s one of the goals of our award-winning, popular website.

In a ministry like this (and in our own lives), there’s always that tension on how to draw the line between man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty. Naturally, we do trust God to provide our needs as a ministry (and individually).

In 2 Chronicles 24:9–10, the Israelites were reminded of the voluntary gift Moses asked them to give for the service of the Lord:

And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness. Then all the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought their contributions, and put them into the chest until all had given.

I also believe it’s my responsibility to share our needs with you, a ministry friend.

Would you please prayerfully consider the following?

• We need to complete the museum. There’s only $2 million to raise of the initial $25 million budget, plus the added $2 million for the necessary expansion (to accommodate a nice “problem” we will be facing: larger-than-expected crowds that our research over the past year has forecasted).

  Through the end of the summer, museum giving was phenomenal … and we appreciated the generosity. But we also had to make the decision to expand the lobby and the parking lot because of the exciting potential of larger-than-anticipated attendance.

  You see, our projection when we first started to design the museum was that we would have over 100,000 visitors each year. Recent research is showing that 250,000—at a minimum—should be coming annually!

• A recent poll conducted by one of America’s leading researchers/pollsters, commissioned by AiG and sponsored by a generous donor, clearly showed the reasons we have been losing young people from the church:

  Pastors are not making the Bible relevant and are not giving answers so desperately needed by our young people in this skeptical age.

  I believe we must continue to provide answers for the church, and disseminate information throughout the culture to uphold the authority of God’s Word. (We will be releasing details of the poll in the near future, including a major article on our website.) The museum will be a key to offering answers.

Right now, here’s the bottom line: if you and everyone receiving this letter were to give $50 to the museum fund and $50 to the general fund, the museum funding would be almost fully funded, and the general fund would be balanced before the end of the year!

Now, I’m aware that not everyone will send a gift. But we’ll praise God for any donation we receive from someone who has benefited from a visit to our website and from reading some of the more than 5,000 free, faith-building articles we offer.

December is a vital time for all ministries. It’s when many of God’s people consider what they can sacrificially give to proclaim the gospel (and also benefit from certain national tax laws). Generous giving right now can have a great impact on ministry. God has built this ministry mostly by gifts under $100. (Of course, the larger gifts we occasionally receive greatly enhance the outreach potential of AiG.)

As we are coming to the end of the year and people consider their year-end giving, it’s a time most of all to think about the One who created the world and became the Babe in the manger so that He could pay the penalty for our sin.

As I walked into an Ohio church recently, a man came up to me and declared: “I became a Christian after you spoke in this church two years ago about the Bible truly being God’s Word, starting with Genesis—then it was my wife and my son. And now we’re working on our other son.” That’s what AiG wants to see!

The more I see the construction progress with the museum, and the more I hear wonderful comments from Christians and even secular reporters who have visited the construction site (a national ABC-TV correspondent said during his visit that he would be surprised if the museum didn’t attract up to 1 million people in its first year!), the more I’m convinced that God will bless this center as one of the greatest tools of evangelism in this century. I can’t wait!

By the way, we just learned some thrilling news: for the second year in a row, AiG has been named on the “Shining Lights ‘Top 30 List’ of Exemplary Ministries” by the financial watchdog group MinistryWatch.com.

These ministries are called “Shining Lights” because they are models of letting their Christian light shine before men so that the gospel may be proclaimed and so that God may be glorified.

Given the large number of wonderful Christian ministries throughout America, we praise God for this recognition. (MinistryWatch.com is an independent ministry-rating organization which helps donors be good stewards of the resources God has given them.)

We want our museum doors to be open during the family vacation season of 2007, because the goal of our ministry is to share the gospel—especially with young people—through the window of the book of Genesis. Contracts need to be signed now so that the opening date will not be jeopardized.

A museum gift of $50—and a gift of $50 to the general fund—are needed right now. Can we ask for your financial support and prayer this week? As you give, please know that lives will be changed as God uses the powerful creation/gospel message.

So many opportunities to proclaim the gospel! Whether it’s through my witnessing booklet that we’re offering to you this month, or through our website or a large museum, there are so many ways to share our faith. Please partner with us—to get out the Word—with a gift right now!