Denison Ministries 2023 - Going Deeper Case for Support

THE PROBLEM

I love leading study tours to the Holy Land, and I especially love taking Christians to Caesarea Philippi.

This rocky outcropping forty miles north of Jesus’ home in Capernaum was notorious for the immorality practiced there. Fourteen temples to Baal were scattered around the area; Greek idols and pagan gods were worshiped through sexual hedonism I will not describe. A temple to the worship of Caesar stood before a massive cave sheltering a spring whose depth the ancient world was unable to measure. Consequently, they considered this spring to be the “gates of the underworld” or the “gates of hell.”

Jesus brought his disciples here so that, pointing to this physical and moral monstrosity, he could utter these history-changing words: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus founded his church for the purpose of attacking the “gates of hell,” wherever they are.

It grieves me to say that our culture looks more like Caesarea Philippi than ever before in American history.

According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who claim any relationship with a church, synagogue, or mosque has fallen below fifty percent for the first time ever. In 1948, 69 percent of Americans identified as Protestants; in 2021, that number had fallen to 35 percent. About 22 percent say they are Catholic (a percentage that has been largely unchanged), while 21 percent say they have no religion at all, rising tenfold since 1948.

As I note in my book, The Coming Tsunami, Christians are increasingly labeled intolerant, irrelevant, oppressive, and even dangerous. Threats to religious freedom continue to escalate. Cultural acceptance of unbiblical morality continues unabated.

The great need of our day is for a moral and spiritual awakening that will transform our lives, our churches, and our culture.

THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

There have been four “great awakenings” in American history: in 1734, 1792, 1858, and 1904–5. Now a fifth great awakening is advancing around the world.

More Muslims have come to Christ in the last fifteen years than in the previous fifteen centuries, many after experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus. The underground church in China is exploding in unprecedented growth. Christianity is becoming the majority faith in sub-Saharan Africa and across much of Latin and South America. I have witnessed personally the spiritual awakening sweeping Cuba.

How can America join this movement?

The missional text of Denison Ministries from our inception has been Ephesians 4:12, “to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” Now we are focusing on the purpose for such “equipping”: “for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and

of the knowledge of the son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (vv. 12b–13).

In other words, to experience and advance spiritual awakening in our time.

Jesus’ Great Commission is to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Jesus’ Great Commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30–31). We believe the Great Commandments fulfill the Great Commission by building Christians who use their influence to advance the spiritual awakening we need so desperately today

Here is how Denison Ministries is equipping such a movement:

Love God with all your heart

Know Christ personally through salvation

Love your neighbor as yourself

Act redemptively through spiritual gifts and cultural influence, leading others to Christ

Love God with all your soul Grow spiritually through encounters with God in personal worship

Love God with all your strength

Live morally through the application of biblical truth to life

Love God with all your mind

Think biblically through the study of God’s word

Each of our ministry brands contributes to this cyclical process in strategic and significant ways:

• Denison Forum helps people respond biblically and redemptively to cultural issues

• First15 helps people experience a daily transformational encounter with God

• Foundations with Janet offers written, digital, video, and in-person Bible teaching resources

• Christian Parenting helps parents raise children to know and love the Lord

In addition, we are partnering with media, churches, ministries, and institutions to equip more Christians than ever before.

Jesus promised us that “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against the movement of God (Matthew 16:18). Now he is calling his people to attack those “gates” together, to the glory of God.

The Story

God has led Denison Ministries through two seasons of growth and now into a third.

Phase One: Founding the ministry

We began in 2009 with three employees, seven thousand subscribers to the Daily Article, and a budget of less than $500,000. We established our board, created branding and identity, and launched our digital platform as Denison Forum. By 2011, we had seven employees, one hundred donors, and twelve thousand subscribers.

Then God led us to begin other ministry strategies alongside Denison Forum. First15 was launched as our devotional resource to help our readers meet God in daily worship; Christian Parenting was created to reach the next generation with God’s word; Foundations was started to bring Janet Denison’s Bible teaching ministry to more people.

Phase Two: Beginning a movement

In 2018, we became convinced that God was calling us to increase the scope and impact of the ministry exponentially. We became concerned about the growing opposition to biblical faith in our culture and the deepening divisions in American society. We knew we had to move from a ministry to a movement.

We discovered that the evangelical population in America, as defined by those who believe the Bible to be fully trustworthy and Jesus to be the only way to heaven, is roughly twenty-seven million people. A University of Pennsylvania study demonstrated that 25 percent of any group is a “tipping point” that galvanizes the others into a movement.

As a result, we set out three years ago to reach 6.5 million Christians, constituting 25 percent of the American evangelical population. By God’s grace, we have surpassed this number in our monthly audience.

Phase Three: Advancing a movement

Denison Ministries is now embarking on Phase Three, focused on advancing spiritual awakening by deepening the spiritual lives of those we are reaching with transformative biblical content. Our strategy (as detailed below) involves multiple content experiences, regional events, mentoring strategies for key leaders, new brands, and partnerships with churches, ministries, networks, and media.

Each of America’s four great awakenings was launched by Christians who were burdened for their culture and committed to doing all they could to bring their nation to Christ.

Now we are seeing a fifth Great Awakening around the world. Denison Ministries is committed to doing all we can to advance this awakening in the power of God’s Spirit.

We invite you to join us.

Dr. Jim Denison CEO & Founder of Denison Ministries

I’m beyond grateful and excited for the mission God has called us to and for where Denison Ministries is headed next.

As we move into the next phase of the ministry, “going deeper” focuses on creating multiple content experiences for each of our acquired users that we have intentionally built up over the last few years, as well as testing into a deeper discipleship model across our brands.

To unpack that, we’re aiming to launch four new key initiatives in 2023 underneath the “going deeper” umbrella:

Growing the existing audience for First15, Denison Forum, Christian Parenting, and Foundations to reach 100 million content experiences per year, which is approximately seven content experiences per acquired audience member per year. In doing this, we will be prioritizing the most effective content platforms to deliver the impressions on each of our brands.

Launching a Denison Forum Master Class that will provide the opportunity for key leaders to be discipled by Jim through an intensive curriculum around Biblical worldview, with the goal of getting Jim’s thinking to key leaders across major industries to create the movement of “Culture Changing Christians” across the country.

Launching a new brand featuring Jim Denison’s theological content.

Kingdom Integration. We know that none of this happens without integration within and across the kingdom of God. We plan to help others who are also creating and distributing digital Christian content by providing free consulting services and donated time from key members of our ministry staff. We believe that the kingdom will grow at the speed of relationships, and intend to share our learnings with others through a consulting brand of Denison Ministries called “Acorn”.

Thank you in advance for your prayers and support for this next vision God has called us to.

Kondratev Chief Content Officer

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Denison Forum, First15, Christian Parenting, Foundations with Janet Denison Brand Growth & Deepening

Launch a theological equipping brand for Jim Denison’s sermons, commentaries, devotionals and theological courses.

Consulting other organizations to grow their digital Christian content impact through the “Acorn” brand.

Launch of discipleship program.

3-YEAR PROJECT COST (2023-2025)

$7,977,500 $692,500 $692,500 $278,000 $9,640,500

Alex

INITIATIVE CATEGORY

Growing Broader & Deeper

New Brand Launch Kingdom Integration “Acorn”

Denison Forum Master Class TOTAL COST

Meet Our Leaders

Going Deeper Together

No matter how sophisticated our strategies and technology become, the gospel still moves at the speed of people. God has chosen to use us, working together, to advance his kingdom to the ends of the earth. And if God is stirring your heart to help take his people deeper into his truth and his presence, our greatest need in partnership is financial.

On top of our normal operating budget that empowers us to resource 6.6 million believers a month, we need $3 million a year for three years to invest in “Going Deeper.”

Together, in alignment with God’s heart for empowering his people, we can continue this movement of transforming believers so we can transform the world around them. Reach me any time at jeff@denisonministries.org.

Jeff Byrd Co-founder and President

SUSTAINABLE DONOR MODEL

The Denison Ministries Board of Directors

The Denison Ministries Leadership Team

DAVID WATSON, Managing Principal/ CEO, Direct Retail Partners

DR. ADAM C WRIGHT, President of Dallas Baptist University

KAYE DAWN LUNSFORD, Director, Paticum Foundation

DR. JIM DENISON, Chief Vision Officer & Co-Founder of Denison Ministries

TODD FURNISS, Chief Executive Officer, gTC Group

DR. JIM DENISON, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

JEFF BYRD, Co-Founder & President

ALEX KONDRATEV, Chief Content Officer

MELISSA TJARKS, Chief Marketing Officer

RACHIA GREEN, Chief Operating Officer

JOSH MILLER, Chief Creative Officer

NEXT STEPS

We ask you to prayerfully consider partnering with us in one of the following three ways:

1. Pray that God would use Denison Ministries efforts to transform lives through meaningful content in such a way that Christians would be what God intended them to be, Light of the World.

2. Give a generous gift to support Denison Ministries either one-time or a multi-year commitment.

3. Connect us with your network who would also support God’s work through Denison Ministries.

At Denison Ministries, every dollar donated by our generous partners is used to accom plish the mission and vision God has called us to. Through God’s provision and responsible stewardship, Denison Ministries has maintained healthy financial growth since its founding, allowing the impact of our mission to grow as well. Ascribing to a value of transparency and as an ECFA Accredited organization, our financial statements are audited each year.

To request our latest audited financials, visit denisonministries.org/financials.

Transforming lives through meaningful content.

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