From Sea to Shining Sea
I wrote this in mid-May after waking up in Sacramento, CA, and we still had 8 cities left on a tour I was speaking for. On the tour with me were Carlos Whitaker, Disciple, Kutless & the Newsboys. We had been in 17 cities already, and in front of over 30,000 people.
But let me back up a bit. On April 8th I had just finished spending four days in British Columbia doing eight school assembly programs and four rallies, seeing hundreds come to Christ. From Canada, we drove through the night to get to the Seattle airport to catch a 6am flight to Washington, DC because the tour started the next day in Maryland on the 9th.
Someone picked me up in DC and drove another two hours to connect me with the tour. I arrived 30 minutes before I was to speak. Yes, I had the same clothes I had on for the rally the night before in Canada. John, my road manager, told me not to worry. “They don’t know what you wore yesterday,” he said. “And besides, the audience is far enough away that they can’t smell you.”
God has blessed me to be able to speak in so many venues, including cars and planes. The tour started in Williamsport, MD, with people being touched by the love of God, and by calling people to stand up on behalf of children around the world. As soon as I was done speaking that evening, I jumped in a truck with Dave King, a friend who puts on a youth festival called iMatter. We drove through the night for 6½ hours to his home town in upstate New York. After spending a couple hours sleeping on a couch, I preached for his church’s Sunday morning service – a message calling the church back to evangelism. Afterwards, I had lunch with the pastors and leaders of the church. From that meeting we were able to set up schools and rallies in their community for the fall in a place called Mexico, NY. After lunch, we drove another two hours to catch back up with the tour in Binghamton, NY.
After speaking that night, I got to sleep on the bus as we drove to the next city. I imagine it’s like sleeping in a coffin (not that I would know). But it’s hard when the sleeping unit on the bus is only 6’ long and I’m 6’4”. We made it to the next city to do it all over again. We’ve been able to preach every night to groups as large as 4,000, averaging 1,600 a night.
Please don’t hear me complaining. This is so much fun. I’m doing exactly what I feel God has called me to do and made me to be. It’s like a dream come true: Instilling hope and sharing the gospel with people, and calling people to live out God’s love in a tangible way. There were stories of pain and opportunities to offer comfort. I heard stories of loss and new beginnings, stories of guilt and forgiveness being received, stories of people once battling addiction, now experiencing freedom.
For the trips in late March, April and May, we were gone 62 out of 74 days. There was an outpouring and overflowing of Gods love and God’s call, feeling God’s word and spirit sustained. God has blessed our speaking department at Life Promotions. Even with my three month sabbatical, we’re speaking more than we did last year, and in front of more people. I just spoke at a concert in Kentucky where we saw 120 people respond to the gospel, with 62 of those being for the first time. Plus, over 100 people sponsored a child through Compassion.
We celebrate with what God is doing and give him all the glory for the open doors, and for people like you that make it financially possible to allow us to reach youth. It’s still all about one more knowing Christ.
In Phoenix, a 15 year old girl came up to me. All she said was, “Can I have a hug?” It was like hugging one of my daughters. I felt like my hug was saying, “It’s okay. God understands. You are loved.” If you’re a parent, you know what I’m talking about. She looked up at me with a tear in her eye and said, “Thank you. You really touched my life.” She walked away. I figured it was probably because she wanted to get a Newsboys autograph (She didn’t want mine. 
)
But then a guy walked up to me and told me, “I’m her adopted dad. Her biological family is a total mess and her dad’s in prison. Her sister who is a year older than her is institutionalized with an addiction and just attempted suicide. Then he said, “Jesus just reached my daughter through your words. I’ve not been able to break the shell she’s put up around her heart, but somehow God did it by his spirit tonight.” He looked at me more intensely and said, “You don’t know what this means to me.” He now had a tear in his eye and I thought, “I have to get back on that bus. I have to go to another city. I have to do this again… from sea to shining sea. Why? Because Christ isn’t just the hope of that teenage girl; He truly is the hope for America.”
For the Kingdom,
Bob Lenz
Founder & President
Life Promotions, Inc.
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