From the desk of
®
JOHN BRADSHAW
March 2025
Dear Partner in ministry, You can’t always know what’s under the surface. Archaeologists working in London’s financial district recently unearthed a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica. It was part of the center of ancient Londinium, when England was part of the Roman Empire. It has been called one of the most significant finds in the city in recent years. It had been there for 2,000 years, and yet nobody knew. Jesus has called us to take the gospel to the world, and we can’t always see what’s beneath the surface. A man I’ll call Paul, an engineer, and his wife Patti recently attended It Is Written evangelistic meetings, which were made possible by your generosity. Paul and Patti were nice, pleasant people and were enjoying the meetings night after night. But we couldn’t see what was going on beneath the surface. Paul and Patti were experiencing trouble in their marriage. In fact, they were heading towards divorce. And Paul was planning, once the divorce was finalized, to take his life.
“Paul was planning… to take his life.”
There are people all around us who are facing real hardships. People struggle with their health or their finances. Sometimes people struggle in their relationships. Close to half of all first marriages end in divorce. Almost 75 percent of third marriages result in divorce. Six in ten people are suffering from a chronic illness. More than half of all Americans don’t have enough money to meet an unexpected $1,000 emergency. There’s a lot going on beneath the surface. But here’s where Paul and Patti’s story takes a dramatic turn. Before the series of meetings began, It Is Written conducted training, and a church member I’ll