“Do the math.” We’re all expected to do some level of computation. People whose interests run far away from the disciplines that demand quantitative prowess will, nonetheless, challenge others with that directive. By the way: did you know that God is really into math?

            There’s a math-split between the human community and the spiritual realm. People tend to operate with addition and subtraction as their primary emphases. With that limitation, for one to “add” requires that someone else has to “subtract.” Small-time thinking, for sure.

            In the spiritual realm – where God and Evil are at war – math upgrades to the highest level. When God operates, the stakes are far greater. In His territory, it’s all about division and multiplication.

            This is a really big deal, but let me boil it to the essence. Satan/Lucifer/Devil has only one math strategy: he tries to divide. Out to reduce anything that he can access, his approach is to find a point of entry and begin working to create separation. Division is his MO; fracturing is his preference.

            As you might suspect, God is the 180° exception to that approach: He’s out for multiplication. “Be fruitful and multiply” was the first – and, recurrent – mandate, from the Creator to His creation. Never settle for addition when multiplication is possible…

            Let me recount a God-sized multiplication story that overlaps into our lifetimes. I’ll ask you a question to get us started: do you think that Edward Kimball was, to use modern lingo, an influencer?

            Kimball was born in 1823 and lived to be 78. As a young man, he found his career in selling carpet, in Boston. Committed to his faith, he joined a local church and became a Sunday School teacher, with a class of teen boys. There, he met and befriended a young man named Dwight. He pursued him outside the Sunday morning context, tracking him down at the shoe store where he worked. In the back room of that shoe store, Kimball led Dwight L. Moody to faith in Jesus Christ.

            Moody went on to become one of the most influential evangelists of the 19^th century, active in America and the United Kingdom. His ministry legacy continues today through Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

            A man named Wilbur Chapman was deeply influenced by and trained under Moody. Chapman became a prominent evangelist himself, conducting revival meetings of his own that followed the model he had seen through Moody’s innovative communication of the Gospel.

            Through Chapman’s ministry, a former professional baseball player named Billy Sunday was mentored to become an evangelist who had extraordinary impact. He was known for his energetic and dynamic preaching style and held enormous live events stretching into the early 20^th century.

            In 1934, a group of Christian businessmen in Charlotte, North Carolina invited Billy Sunday to come to help them reach their community for Jesus. When Sunday could not come, he sent Mordecai Ham as his alternate. Over a course of weeks, Ham conducted a series of evangelistic outreaches that made a profound mark on Charlotte.

            During those meetings – while the Great Depression was impacting America – a 16 year old boy came to Ham’s meeting and – reluctantly – responded to the invitation at the end of the service. His name was Billy Graham.

            Only Eternity will reveal the spiritual impact through Dr. Graham over the course of his lifetime. One thing is sure: that outcome was beyond Edward Kimball’s imagination when he went the extra mile to corner D.L. Moody in the backroom of a shoe store to help him get right with God.

            In Heaven, there will be a version of ancestry.com that will allow amazing stories to be revealed, demonstrating God’s math in the multiplication of faith, unleashed across generations of impact.            

            What opportunities are within reach for you today to create a redemptive flow from you to someone who needs to get their relationship with Jesus nailed down while they have their future to unfold? Any idea what a few spiritual generations – from you into the future – could mean in Eternity?

 — Bob Shank