Dr. Michael Youssef, beginning this episode of Leading the Way Audio. Hello, my friends. Welcome to this very special program. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. So many of you have written and told me of how much this ministry means to you. But let me tell you, I do not take it for granted of how you graciously invite me into your living rooms week in and week out and constantly supporting this ministry, praying for me. Nothing moves me more than when I travel somewhere and somebody I have never met would come and say, God laid you on my heart to pray for you every day. That absolutely touches me in ways that I cannot express this side of heaven.
So I just want to thank you. Before we begin this very special program, I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, and may the Lord bless you as you dedicate your life to Him. As the nation's search for hope, God has uniquely positioned Leading the Way to proclaim the truth of Jesus worldwide. I'm really excited about what Dr. Youssef is doing. I really believe that the message of the gospel is going to go forth.
Dr. Michael Youssef's teachings are uncompromised biblical truth. And the wonderful thing that I always got was that I wouldn't walk away thinking about him, but thinking about God. It's so important to be under a ministry like Leading the Way, where you're getting good sound doctrine.
The harvest is plenty and the workers are few. That's why we're here. My hope is that it will spark a revival. I know that something started here tonight and that lives were changed. We found out about the navigators and Leading the Way, and just to be able to partner with somebody else who really gets this. Give one navigator to every single family, and one navigator can save the whole family. I thank God for this ministry.
It's having a positive effect on people. He's in Atlanta. I'm in Rob's room in my car, and he's connecting directly with me. It's unbelievable. Dr. Michael Youssef, God has used you to breathe so much freshness into my life. We stand at a crossroad of history, and we can walk through these doors of opportunities that God has opened for us, or we can do nothing.
We have the choice. God is opening powerful doors for ministry. Joining us now is Dr. Youssef, cultural anthropologist, pastor and author, as he shares from the heart on a landmark year of ministry. I am the most surprised person in this whole world at what God is doing. Many years ago, I went to the Lord and I said I was 18 years old.
I go anywhere, do anything. And my goodness, what a journey the Lord has taken us through. 2024 has been an amazing year. We've seen lives transformed before our own eyes, and we've seen those lives that are transformed. They are transforming thousands of other lives.
So the chain reaction is being felt all over the globe in more than 195 countries. And when I look at the events that I went there in person and I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, I gave the invitations, and I saw people come down by the hundreds hungry to dedicate their life to Christ. That is extremely a source of thankfulness on my part. And I know you join with me in this because God gets all the glory.
You and I are just instruments. But 2024 has been truly blessed of God. And every year I say that, but that is true that every year we see the hand of God, his mercy new every morning, the doors that he has opened that we could never have dreamed of seeing them open, and the ministry of leading the way in terms of the spots that has millions of people listening to it, and then the events and the navigators and all of the things that God is doing in partnership with you is truly, truly astounding to me and causes me to give all the praise and the honor and the glory to him who called us together to serve him in this life.
God is blessing and you are a part of it. Together we have reached more people than ever with the soul saving message of the gospel. Through our most recent Finding True Peace national media campaign, Dr. Michael Youssef's evangelistic commercials were viewed more than 150 million times on secular television networks across the nation, and on online platforms where approximately 200 people are searching for answers about God every second. Leading the Way reached major milestones, surpassing over 1 million active subscribers on YouTube, reaching the next generation. Our Candid Conversations podcast equipped listeners in over 160 countries with a biblical worldview.
In 2024, we celebrated an exciting milestone, 15 years of continuous broadcasting through the KingdomSat, our satellite TV platform, broadcasting directly into the Middle East. Through indigenous programming and personal discipleship, Leading the Way is delivering the hope of God's Word into war-torn areas and restricted regions. Through your partnership, we're also mobilizing for the next great spiritual awakening here at home. In the least churched region in America, God opened doors for Dr. Youssef to passionately proclaim the gospel at Leading the Way's Rise Up New England celebration. Our Awake America prayer movement has now mobilized half a million prayer warriors, and we distributed over 600,000 biblically based resources to equip readers in their faith.
Dr. Youssef published new books like Heaven Awaits, a much needed resource debunking misconceptions about heaven and eternal life. In the hardest to reach parts of the world, Leading the Way distributed more than 45,000 solar-powered navigator devices, reaching nearly half a million people, formally cut off from the truth of the gospel. This year, God has done amazing things through your partnership with Leading the Way, and there is so much more to do. Together, as we walk through the open doors God has given us, it is our desire to reach more people in 2025.
Let's return to Dr. Youssef as he unpacks the latest ministry updates. Five years ago, the Lord laid on my heart a heavy burden to go in person and proclaim the gospel to live audiences. And we prayed about it, and God mercifully sent us a good team, and so we are able to do at least so far seven different celebrations of the goodness of God, and the mercy of God, and the grace of God, preaching the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, and thousands of people have come to Christ in person, and that's a great joy for me because I love people, and as much as I thank God for technology, radio, television, internet, and so forth, I'm a personal person.
I like to rub shoulders with people. So when God opened those doors, I, after two years, I become burdened that I want to turn my attention, I'm sure that's from God, it's not just me, to this country. I love this country. I am grateful to God for this country. I'm grateful to be part of this country, and I believe God brought me here for a reason, and I want to serve to bring about the third great awakening, and in every city that we go to, Springfield, and we're going to different other cities throughout 2025, it's my prayer that God would use that as a spark to ignite that great awakening.
And when I heard that four percent, this always makes me want to weep, four percent of the population in the United States have a biblical world view. I felt that burden, and I said, I'll do it in person, later we can put it on television, but I wanted to go there and celebrate the mercy of God, the grace of God, and the power of the cross in all these cities. You know, one of the great results of this celebrations that we've had so far in Macon, Georgia, in Dublin, Ireland, Belfast, Egypt, my goodness, we had the largest gathering in the history of Cairo, and in Australia, and all these places. The event is important, but what God does after the event, the bringing reconciliation, bringing pastors who never talk to each other, to work together and pray together, and different ethnic groups that have never really had any dealing with each other, now they pray together. And so the impact of what happens after the event, after the celebration itself, has been remarkable. I am so moved by a story of a couple who were best known rappers in Ireland, very very popular, and when you think about this you have to understand the irony, okay?
Somebody invited them, you know, they were renowned for their music and they have great impact on the music industry in Ireland, and that couple came to the celebration in Dublin Convention Center, they came down the front and received Christ. Now God is using them in a mighty way. Now I can sit here and tell you dozens and dozens and dozens of stories like that, but only God and your partnership could have done that, and that is why I am full of gratitude and thanksgiving at the end of this year. Whether it is seething anger and hatred in your heart, whether it is the pain of guilt, whether it is that you feel a sense of aimlessness and hopelessness and helplessness, God can meet you with His invitation tonight. Lost sinners are going to be saved, and the glory of God, the power of God, we are going to see.
We are going to see. Really enjoy the training that we have been receiving. We've actually got to speak the words to people. We've actually got to tell them about Jesus. All churches should be doing this, and we're blessed to have a ministry like this here. Such a great connection of churches, congregants, that is not common. It's unified so many churches, both racially and denominationally, to work together on a common project, which is centered on the person of Jesus Christ.
I hope this will touch hundreds, or maybe even thousands. Confessing that you're a sinner is good, but it's not good enough. You need something else. You need to do something else, and that is to ask God for His forgiveness, acknowledging that only Jesus can forgive you all of your sins. Let me ask you this. Does the thought of the return of Christ brighten you, or does it thrill you? I'm not asking you if you have had some religious experience. Jesus said you must be born again. Will you respond to His invitation? Will you come surrendering to Him?
You will never be the same. One of the early landmark messages that I would preach is when the Lord says in the book of Revelation, I open doors no one can shut, and I would shut doors no one can open. From my own preaching, and that's reflected in my own life, I always come to the Lord and say, Lord, I want to walk through every open door that you will have open for us. I don't believe in going and beating down, breaking down doors that God has shut. If He shuts the door, He has a purpose for that, and so we go through the open doors, and God opened amazing doors for us to walk through in the next five years.
The Bible talks about the body of Christ and that really every part is so important. Now I can tell you, I could never have reached the millions of people that we are reaching every week without your partnership. You see, it's your support that keeps us going, that keeps the studio, that keeps the ministry, keeps the signal on the satellite going up, particularly if kingdom sat, which goes into 260 plus million homes, not only in Arabic speaking world, but Australia and New Zealand and Europe. And so without your partnership, I couldn't have done all of this, certainly with God's blessing and God's power, God's strength. I am amazed every morning I wake up and I sense the energy that God has given me at my age, and I know that it's not natural, it's supernatural.
So it's God's blessing. Your partnership is what really makes this ministry to be what it is and the effect that it has around the globe. Leading the Way is embarking on a bold new vision to passionately proclaim the uncompromising truth of Christ in three strategic areas where the need is greatest and the doors are open. Thanks to your generous partnership, Leading the Way has doubled our ministry reach over the past seven years, eternally impacting and transforming countless lives with the Gospel message.
We are poised to make an even more significant impact as we look to the next five years. We have endeavored to faithfully and passionately proclaim the uncompromised truth of Christ together at home and around the world. We have seen God open doors that we never imagined were possible. From North America to the Middle East to remote regions, Leading the Way focuses our ministry resources and efforts where the need is greatest, places where God has given us unprecedented access and demonstrated impact. We are breaking barriers and reaching the unreached through media, technology, and prayer. Whether through traditional TV and radio, our mobile app, our innovative digital media, we spread the Gospel far and wide.
I thank God for your faithfulness and partnership in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, the door is open. We must seize these opportunities while God's still giving them to us.
And only God in heaven knows when will it be closed. Will you commit to joining me to boldly walk through these open doors together? Give today and join Dr. Michael Youssef and Leading the Way as together we walk through the open door and leverage every available resource to reach the unreached for Christ. To talk about the open doors and the five-year plan that God laid on our hearts this year to go forward.
I have to go back seven years ago. When I went to the Lord and asked, you know, what would you have us do? He gave us seven years of seven initiatives. And so we launched the 2025 vision. And by God's grace and his absolute amazing strength, we accomplished what God led us to do. Now we began to look at the future. What would God have us do?
Now he can take me home tomorrow and let me assure you, I am looking forward to heaven and I am delighted if that would happen. But so far the Lord laid on my heart a five-year vision, three initiatives rather than seven, just three. And so those three concentrated on my preaching the Gospel one-on-one as I come to city near you.
And then in addition to that, the Kingdom Sat or the Muslim world, the Arabic-speaking world through Kingdom Sat, that is always a priority and will always be a priority, supporting the team on the ground who literally take their life in their own hands. And then the third thing is that we take this little navigator, it's an amazing invention where the whole Bible is in it, at least the New Testament in some of them, in their language and then 150 messages I have recorded nearly 500 messages through an interpreter and thus become the prototype into 28 of the most spoken languages. Nearly four billion people speak those languages in which the navigator is translated to from Mandarin and Cantonese or Arabic and Hebrew and Turkish and Farsi and on and on and on. And so we're taking those to the remotest parts of the world where they have no church, where they have no preacher or a Gospel proclaimer. So we send these to these villages in the remotest parts of the world and they literally kiss it when they receive it because it's a gift from God. It's the Scripture, the Word of God which they sometimes can't read because they're illiterate.
And so those three initiatives have been the burden of our hearts for the coming five years and I know you're going to stand with me. The lost people is always in the heart of Christ. That's why I say to Jesus, Jesus, please enable me to share the good news. I pray, Lord, I need a tool how to reach out to the island. This is called the navigator. Some of my friends call it pocket missionary.
This has the Gospel in it in variety of ways, including the Bible, the Word of God. So when I heard that leading the way will send navigators, I said this is the answer. Two years ago, we start distributing navigators to the lost people. After one year, I met them.
Almost every single person in that place saying my life changed. I have faith in Jesus and now I hope for the future and hope for my children. You cannot have Hosanna without crucifying. Therefore while they were saying... One of the staff of navigators asked, how many navigators do you want, Pastor Paulus? I want million.
I want million because through navigators, we can come to the village, give one navigator to every single family and one navigator can save the whole family. Leading the way, thank you for sending navigators and thank you for keeping attention to our nation. Thank you for loving to our people. I visited with Pastor Paulus when I went to Indonesia and I preached in the soccer stadium in Jakarta. We had a wonderful three-night evangelistic outreach and then we went to Bali and spent time with Pastor Paulus.
What a remarkable man. I mean, he's probably got the largest parish in the world because it's all over the spread around the islands of Indonesia and he has other pastors working with him and assisting him in different villages and that's where he said, I want a million and I'm sure he can do that million families probably more than a million. But so far, we only have done something like 400,000. We would love to send millions if God lays it on your heart and said, I want to partner with you and I want to send a million navigators.
Well, what a wonderful thing for us to be able to do. And again, this is something that tugs on my heart because these folks are isolated but also Jesus loves them and Jesus called some of them to come and be part of his church and we are so grateful to be part of that. What if you could reach out and share the hope of Jesus with those suffering in the midst of war, with a nation in the throes of crisis, with unreached people groups who are completely cut off from the good news through your partnership with Leading the Way, you can. Across North America, to the Middle East and in the most remote areas on earth, your partnership enables Leading the Way to minister to people's deepest needs. Through a timely year-end gift challenge, you can double your impact, sharing the hope of Christ with more people in need. For the month of December, generous partners have committed one million dollars to Leading the Way and are challenging you to help match their gifts, turning one million dollars into two million dollars for God's kingdom work.
I recently lost my home to a hurricane. Your devotional today really spoke to me. My shepherd is mighty and he is faithful. I felt something drawing me to Jesus and prayed to receive him as my Savior.
My heart has changed. Your ministry has made a profound difference in my life. The greatest gift you can give is the gift of the Gospel.
Contact us and double your impact today. Well, the thing about an open door is that it cannot stay and will not stay open for long. We are so grateful to the Lord that we do have open doors.
I am amazed personally that when I see something like what we've seen in Egypt where a gathering of 17,000 people never before have gatherings like that. And when I see thousands and tens of thousands of navigators, all of these doors are open for now if we don't walk through them like somebody said years ago, the good news is good news if it gets there on time. And we want to get that good news on time so that God can call his children to come before his return so that we will see people in heaven. You and I are going to see people in heaven who literally are going to walk up to us and say, thank you for your sacrifice. Because of that, I am here in heaven. And as you know, I received no financial compensation from leading the way.
I received no royalties from my books or anything else. This is my labor of love. And that is why I'm emboldened to say, join with me, sacrifice for Christ. And it will not be a sacrifice for very long because he promised to bless you. And we don't do it just to get the blessing, but that's his promise. Thank you again for being partners with me and may the Lord bless you.
And may 2025 be your best year yet. Today is your last chance to be part of this month's Giving Challenge at Leading the Way. The number to call to stand with Dr. Yusef and Leading the Way is 866-626-4356. And of course, ltw.org. Or write to us at Leading the Way, Post Office, Fox 20100, Atlanta, Georgia, This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yusef.
