Christmas 2025

Dear Friends,
This Advent season, I’m reminded of a poem my Dad wrote for our family’s 1971 Christmas picture.

“Down”

I knelt one time
by my six-year-old son
to see how big things looked
from where he stood.
“It sure looks big down here,”
I said.
He smiled.
God knelt down too,
one Christmas,
to wipe away sin’s stains
and make us smile again.

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how Christ comes down to us, not in our strongest, most composed moments, but into our most vulnerable ones. Into the places where life is uncertain. Into the places where we are not in control. I want you to know the story of Rich Hurst, my close friend and LFM’s Chief of Staff.

On October 22, 2020 (Dad’s birthday), I got a text from Rich. We had just been together with Jim Singleton in Middletown, PA, so I assumed he wanted to have a follow up chat. But I was also aware he had been quite fatigued from that trip. I immediately called to check on him. He let me know he had gone to the doctor for a checkup, after the meeting in Middletown. What he said next was shocking: “Kevin, I’ve got bad news. I’ve been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.” Later, he told me the doctors gave him two months to live.

Overnight, his world became hospital corridors, IV poles, and long quiet hours in rooms filled with more waiting than answers. As he describes, “There were days when prayer was not words, but breathing.” The day after the diagnosis, Dad called him. He didn’t try to fix anything. He simply said, “Jesus is nearer than you think.” And he stayed on the line. Presence. Friendship. Christ.

A day later, another call came, from a friend of Dad’s — Alec Hill, former President of InterVarsity, who had walked this same road
before him. He told Rich, “You are not alone. I will walk with you.” Alec became a friend on the journey with Rich.

Then came New Year’s Eve. Rich was in full isolation. No visitors were allowed.

A young female doctor walked into his room and said, “You may not know me, but I know you. I was in your young adult ministry years ago. It changed my life. I’ve been following your journey here. I’m here with you now.” Yet one more friend on the journey.

Rich had no words.
Christ again.
Presence again.
Grace again.

Months later, he received a stem cell transplant from a donor in Germany. Rich was not permitted to know who the donor was for a full two years, other than to exchange texts via a registry. After waiting two years to meet the donor, he flew to Frankfurt, walked out of the airport, and stepped directly into the arms of a young 25-year-old woman he had never met, the person who saved his life.

Two strangers, now family.

They stood there holding each other and wept. Rich said that it felt like resurrection.

And he understood something clearly: No one is meant to walk their journey alone. God knelt down too, one Christmas, to wipe away sin’s stains and make us smile again.

This is the heart of Leighton Ford Ministries. We accompany ministry leaders who are carrying more than people know. We help ministries discern their identity in seasons of transition and uncertainty. We form small, long-term mentoring communities where leaders are known, not for what they do, but for who they are. We walk with them. Slowly. Attentively. Faithfully

A New Initiative

And now, through Jeanie’s Vision, our new initiative to mentor evangelists, we are also finding and encouraging young evangelists, the ones the Church often forgets to notice. “Don’t forget the evangelists.” That’s what my mom, Jean, would say every time Dad headed off to help young leaders spread the Gospel. Just as Paul wrote to Timothy: “Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5 NIV)

The Church needs them. The world needs them. And they need someone to walk alongside them as they learn to live their call.

From the stadiums of Billy Graham, to the global mentoring of Leighton Ford, to Lausanne Younger Leaders sharing the Gospel in new creative ways, God has raised up evangelists whose voices have reached millions for Christ. Jeanie’s Vision exists to equip and encourage emerging evangelists, who will reach countless people for Christ all over the world.

Evangelists often feel lonely and isolated. The calling to evangelism, whether through a local church, in a backyard, or in a stadium,
is often a lonely path. One young evangelist said, “Community is one of the biggest missing pieces. Being an evangelist can feel very, very lonely, yet nobody seems to ever talk about it.” Numerous resources exist to support pastors, but not many for vocational evangelists.

The initiative will support men and women in their twenties, thirties, and forties who show Friends of LFM gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, in October to officially launch Jeanie’s Vision tremendous potential to share the Gospel in their own context. These younger ones will be mentored by seasoned evangelists.

Will you pray with us as we begin our five-year plan for mentoring and training evangelists globally, with a focus on next generations? Your prayers and gifts will be nurturing evangelists called to share the Gospel, joining the long line of people with “beautiful feet”:

“And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? . . . As it
is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15 NIV)

LFM walks as a guide on the journey—helping evangelists, leaders, and ministries discern their truest calling and move forward with clarity, joy, and lasting Kingdom fruit.

This is why I’m writing to you.

LFM creates sacred space for deep listening— to one another, to trusted advisors, and most importantly, to God. Ministry leaders are invited to quiet the noise and rediscover God’s voice in their lives and ministries.

Your Support Helps:

• Ministry leaders rediscover joy and courage
• Young leaders grow in wisdom and resilience
• Evangelists find their voice, calling, and
community

Your giving does not just fund a ministry.
It embodies presence.

Christmas is God’s declaration of presence.
He came down to be among us.

Not distant. Not theoretical. But, “I am with you.” At Christmas, we remember the angel said, they “will call him Immanuel, which means, ‘God is with us’” (Matthew 1:23 NLT).

This is the heart of our work.
This is the gift we extend to others.

And this is why we are asking for your support this Christmas. Your generosity makes room for leaders to be seen, strengthened, and held.

Your kindness helps us walk with them, not for a moment, but for the long haul.

Would you make a year-end gift to help us continue this ministry of presence and hope?

Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for helping leaders know they are not alone. Thank you for helping do the work of an evangelist.

Thank you for your continued partnership in this Gospel ministry.

A blessed Christmas season to you,
Kevin Ford

 

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Will you consider investing in the lives of kingdom leaders?

• Praying daily for this ministry and the lives it reaches.
• Sharing $100/month to help support our ongoing mentoring groups around the world.
• Investing $2,000 to train and equip a leader for one of these mentoring communities.
• Giving $5,000 to cover the first year of a new community.
• Providing $15,000 for the three-year launch of a new community
• Offering $30,000 to cover fund a Global Mentor Training event for evangelists, through Jeanie’s Vision.

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