The Weight of Glory, The Price We Pay
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17
I finished my interview with Terry and Amy Ruff and switched off recording deeply impressed with what God has done. He called them from Louisville Kentucky to the Gonga region of northern Ghana. He connected them with the right national partners. At the right time breakthroughs came through the writings of Steve Smith and Ying Kai. Curtis Sergeant played a vital role in training and mentoring.
Amy and Terry invested themselves in two key national leaders who took responsibility to reach their people who are poor and illiterate. Yet every family has a mobile phone. The team discovered that through inexpensive Micro SD cards could provide audio Bibles and other resources in local languages.
The Ruffs invested money wisely in multiplication, not addition. They raised funds to provide motorcycles to pioneers opening up new regions. When the regions are established, a local leader gets a bicycle and the motorcycle goes to the next unreached region. They new churches are now giving towards the spread of the work in other regions.
God did an amazing work, there have been thousands of baptisms of new disciples, hundreds of new churches in multiple generations. Now through their national leaders the work is spreading across Africa.
That was the story of the Terry and Amy Ruff. After thirty minutes I stopped recording. I told them how deeply impressed I was with them as a couple and their faithfulness to God’s call. Then they opened up and shared the battles they had faced and price they had paid. With their permission I pressed record again.
The enemy attacked in the first year through Amy’s cancer. The battle continued throughout the next ten years — cancer, home invasions, family crises. Separately, two senior national leaders fell into adultery and were initially unrepentant. The Ruffs stood firm throughout these attacks knowing that so much was at stake. They walked obediently through the doors God opened. They trusted him to work through their weakness. Their hope was in their heavenly reward, not in what this world can offer.
Their reward will come. Can you imagine they joy they will share for all eternity surrounded by thousands of Ghanaians who are the fruit of their ministry? Paul tells us that one day our troubles will seem light and momentary compared the eternal glory that outweighs them all.
More:
Interview: 194-Multiplying Movements in West Africa
Post: Terry and Amy’s Story
