The greatest gift you can give someone else this Christmas is the joy of knowing Jesus Christ.

On December 13, The BLESS Foundation held their annual Christmas concert and storytelling benefit called Light The World.

(Photo courtesy of The BLESS Foundation)

This year, Light The World featured a live missional interview with Tim Tebow as well as musical performances by the African Children’s Choir, Shane & Shane, and Drew Womack.

Tom Watkins with Trans World Radio (TWR) says the goal of Light The World was “to get as many people as possible understanding the plight of unreached, unengaged people groups around the world.”

Trans World Radio (TWR) was one of the five beneficiary organizations featured for the fundraiser. Every donation to TWR through Light The World was matched up to $10,000.

As a digital and broadcast platform, TWR develops programs in multiple languages to share the Gospel with these unreached, unengaged people groups.

The Church has a lot of work ahead of us for Christ’s Great Commission. Watkins says, “In the American Church, we can get so inward-focused. And then I think this year of COVID[-19] is really weird for all of us because I think inherently, we’re all becoming more inward-focused — not that we really want to be, but I think people are drawing in. Our circle of people that we’re involved with is less. We’re more concerned about safety.

“I think there’s a danger there — particularly maybe this Christmas of all Christmases — that we could tend to be a little too inward-focused [and] to lose our focus on our responsibility for reaching the nations.”

(Photo courtesy of The BLESS Foundation)

Normally, BLESS holds Light The World in Austin, Texas. But due to pandemic shutdowns, they couldn’t host in-person.

Ironically, COVID-19’s physical restriction led to the event’s expansion. Light The World went virtual for the first time this year, allowing them to reach a global audience in ways they couldn’t prior.

Collectively, Light The World raised over $1 million for their five beneficiary organizations reaching the unreached with the hope of the Gospel.

Although the event is over, it’s still not too late to give. Click here to donate to TWR through Light The World!

Watkins says, “We know who the ultimate Gift is. So think about how we can be a part of giving that ultimate Gift to people around the world.”

Header photo courtesy of The BLESS Foundation.

Tom Watkins of TWR explains When Your Whole World Changes, one of the primary programs on which they partner with Biblica. It’s a 30-day devotional designed to help people who have suffered natural disasters. “Wars, pandemics, tsunamis, hunger, tidal waves, you name it. Anything that really devastates people’s lives. They’re searching for answers, saying, ‘This is what my life used to be. And this is what it is now.’ And they have an openness to spiritual content at that particular point of their lives.”

TWR used this program to respond to disasters like the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The USNS Comfort arrives in Manhatten on March 30, during a severe COVID-19 outbreak. The virus has killed at least 1.5 million globally. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Watkins says these disasters often spawn a whirlwind of relief aid to affected areas. But support doesn’t last. “Quite often, a few months pass, and things stabilize a little bit. Then [relief groups] are called off to another country. But people are still left with the long-term fallout of what happened: PTSD, being displaced, losing everything they have, and that any kind of security in life. They’ve lost loved ones. So how do they cope with this long term?”

Dealing with pandemics

TWR has been working with When Your Whole World Changes for over 15 years, taking the devotional booklets and broadcasting them in a number of different languages around the world.

But now, Biblica has revised the program to more effectively deal with pandemics. The COVID-19 pandemic has killed at least 1.5 million around the world and crushed global economies. However, it won’t be the last pandemic, and the creators of the program want to prepare for future plagues.

Watkins says pandemics offer a unique challenge as a natural disaster: information literacy. “TWR, particularly in places like Africa for instance, is a very, very important source of credible information that people turn to in times of need.”

Watkins says TWR has created a lot of unique COVID-19 programs as well. Pray this programming will provide help and good information to many people in the months ahead. And pray the love and hope of Jesus will reach many disaster victims through this renewed partnership with Biblica.

Header image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay.