April 1, 2013
It’s time to place your bets.
I don’t spend any time at race tracks, but there’s a moment when the speculation and conversation are past, and the serious gambler has to step up to the window and declare the winner… before the race begins.
Last Sunday, the Los Angeles Times’ lead article in the Business section was shocking: “MARIJUANA INC.: Entrepreneurs, hoping to cash in if pot becomes legal nationwide, pitch their ideas to potential investors. Wall Street can smell profits.” Guys with little to no moral constraints are placing their bets on the big upside that could be awaiting the emerging legalization of pot.
Yesterday, crowds of people around the globe assembled based on an impossible concept: they claim that 2000 years ago, a common man with an uncommon appeal to disadvantaged people was put to death on trumped-up charges by the Roman occupiers in Jerusalem… and three days later he was reputed to have walked out of his grave and through locked doors to the shock and celebration of his friends and followers. To date, billions have placed their bets on the veracity of that resurrection claim, with confidence in his promise to make the same thing happen for them subsequent to their inevitable encounter with death.
Life is one continuing trip to the wager window; we’re constantly considering the odds of our choices, determining how much we want to put at risk… and then putting our money where our mouth is, waiting for the end of the race to see if we won.
Every year at this time, we open the betting window at The Master’s Program. Between now and May 6, we’ll be inviting friends like you to consider betting on a winner that has a history of big returns. Are you up for a tip on an opportunity that offers a huge eternal windfall?
In TMP, we serve leaders in a three-year process in which they discover ways to explore, expose and exploit their Kingdom Calling. Since 1997, men and women have gone on from that experience to leverage their newfound focus to pursue Kingdom initiatives that were not a part of their pre-TMP approach to life. They’ve moved from church volunteers to Kingdom entrepreneurs… and are seeing God work in/through their lives in unimagined ways.
On May 6th, we’ll be staging our annual Golf Challenge in Palm Desert. Between now and then, dozens of Friends-of-TMP are approaching folks to sponsor them/us in the 100-holes-per-twosome event. It’s not about the 100 holes; that’s just the marathon effort we use to attract the charitable contributions we’re soliciting – shamelessly – from our friends.
Where does the money go? All the funds pledged to the Golf Challenge underwrite the launch of new cities, new groups and new participants for The Master’s Program. Last year, we formed six new cohorts – in Charlotte, Denver, Dallas, Phoenix and two in Newport Beach – with the proceeds from the 2012 Golf Challenge.
This year, we're working on new group launches in Philadelphia, Charleston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Houston, San Luis Obispo, San Diego and two in Newport Beach. Ten groups: our ability to initiate those efforts in 2013 is completely dependent on the results on May 6th.
Ten groups; in them, hundreds of leaders whose influence for the Kingdom will be multiplied through their time in and after TMP. Between now and May 6th, Kingdom entrepreneurs will place their bets on the future potential of the leaders whose callings will change the world and build God’s Kingdom.
This is my first “ask;” it won’t be my last. The mission Jesus launched with his resurrection the first Easter is the agenda that drives us forward, today. Click here to see how you can be part of the 2013 Golf Challenge! It’s time to place your bets,
Bob Shank