by Beth Honshell

Passion. Bill and Maria Teresa Standridge have lived in Italy as missionaries for over fifty years, planting churches. They discovered that their passion is for young people ages eighteen to twenty-six, and they have spent their energies looking for ways to touch these lives.

Purpose. First they bought printing presses and started writing and printing home Bible studies. They advertised in magazines and through radio ads and mailed their materials to anyone who asked for them. When computers came, they gave up their printing presses and converted everything, using copiers to put together their packages. Eventually they changed to e-mail and personally corresponded with many people, answering their questions and sending them study materials. But again, because the method of delivery has changed, they prayed about investing in a website.

Unchanged Message. Their February 2009 prayer letter opened with these paragraphs:

In our last letter we told you we were going to the highways and byways of Italy, to reach the unreached on the internet. The Lord did not send us the funds necessary to hire professional web artists to prepare us the pages we had planned nor to apply their arts to making our pages known. So, we headed for the free pages in which it is possible to make the Word available, and God has blessed.

Blogs are messages which anyone can write and put out on the internet. Of course, no one can guarantee that anyone will find them or read them. Maria Teresa and Bill each have one, and in their first month have reached over 1000 contacts, who have read an average of two or three messages that they have written, for a total of nearly 3,000 messages read.

One of our church young people suggested using Facebook. These are free pages which are used for contacting others, and are often considered junk for teenagers. Now Maria Teresa and Bill each have a page where their blogs can be read. Plus, the same young man set up a Facebook page called Bibbia (Bible) and nearly 2000 young people have declared themselves fans (34% between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four), so Bill is able to send regular biblical thought-starters to all of them once or twice a week.

Bill and Maria Teresa Standridge are in their 80s. They have kept their passion and their vision alive for over fifty years. Their delivery method for their message looks different, but the message is the same. As you evaluate events, ministries, and passions in your life, remember that you can change your method of delivery without changing the core belief and vision of your message. Good change follows your passion, grows your purpose, and helps you keep true to your message.