A Personal Word Before Tonight’s Important Message

After decades of failure and ministry, one truth remains: Jesus came for the sin-sick, not the spiritually fit—and it still holds power.

I need to share something deeply personal before you receive my important message tonight.

Forty-seven years. That's how long I lived as what I call a "spiritual loser" – deceived by Satan, enslaved by sin, convinced that what felt so good would ultimately destroy me. When I finally gave my life to the Lord, I carried those decades of failure like a weight on my chest.

But God had a different plan.

He gave me a calling stronger than any drug I'd ever used, more powerful than any feeling I'd ever chased: to help other spiritual losers find their way to Jesus. My theme verse from His Word became Mark 2:17: "Jesus shot back, 'Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit.'" (The Message)

Four weeks after our son died of a drug overdose, I found myself in Lincoln, Nebraska, at a place called Back to the Bible, interviewing for a job I probably didn't deserve. I looked the president in the eye and asked him straight: "Why would a ministry like this hire a spiritual loser like me?"

His answer changed everything: "That's exactly why we need you. I'm sick and tired of continually blessing people's lives who are already blessed."

That conversation launched a 20-year journey to answer one question: What does it take for broken people – people like I was – to win their day spiritually?

We found the answer. We called it the Power of Four. Engaging the Bible four times a week is the spiritual practice that will forever transform your life.

But six and a half years ago, everything changed again.

I was dying. Literally. Bleeding internally, surrounded by surgeons and nurses, squeezing my wife Char's hand, and convinced this was the end. After surgery saved my life, lying alone in the ICU surrounded by beeping monitors, one thought hit me like a sledgehammer:

God must be done with me because I'd failed at what He called me to do.

For seven days in that hospital bed, and for weeks after, I wrestled with the feeling that I'd let God down. That all our research, all our discoveries about spiritual transformation, hadn't reached enough people. That I was, once again, a failure.

As I started the slow process of recovery, fighting off those terrible feelings of failure, God led a Power of Four movement that I had very little to do with. Even though we had proven the Power of Four scientifically and had lectured about it from Yale to the University of Tel Aviv, this finding was ignored by pretty much all of the Christian Community. Then, as I was working out what’s next for BTTB, YouVersion shared it with 35 million users. Our Daily Bread took it to 20 million readers and took over our Center for Bible Engagement. 

And the research-based concept blew up on social media… Here is the link- bttb.org/Powerof4    

I'm sharing this because that same feeling is trying to crush me today.

Tonight, you'll receive a message about the most serious crisis in Back to the Bible's 87-year history. It would be easy to see it as another failure, another dead end. But I've learned something in my journey from spiritual loser to ministry leader: Our greatest breakthroughs often come disguised as our greatest failures.

The crisis we're facing isn't threatening Back to the Bible – it's repositioning us for something bigger than we've ever imagined. Something that could finally reach those people like my friends who would never listen to a 30-minute Bible teacher. The ones still trapped where I was for 47 years.

I just wanted you to understand the heart behind tonight's message: to know that when God calls a spiritual loser like me to help other spiritual losers find Jesus, He doesn't give up when things get hard.

He's not done with Back to the Bible. He's not done with me. And if you've felt like a spiritual loser yourself – like you've failed God or disappointed Him or wondered if He's done with you – He's not done with you either.

Tonight’s message will show you exactly how you can be part of what God is doing next.

Until then, would you pray for wisdom? For me, for our team, for the decisions ahead? I believe God is about to do something extraordinary, but I need your prayers as we step into it.

With a grateful heart,

-Arnie

P.S. That verse from His Word that sustained me through 47 years of failure and 20 years of ministry? It's still true: Jesus came for the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit. Tonight, you'll see how that truth is about to reach more people than ever before.