John 12:24–25 records these words from Jesus:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

In other words, a fruitful life comes from this: dying like a seed in what looks like hating your life in this world. This is the legacy of Adoniram Judson, America’s first foreign missionary, who died so many times and in so many ways.

Today, on the 163rd anniversary of Judson's physical death, we direct you to two resources that might encourage you:

1. John Piper's biography of Judson, available as a free eBook.
2. This 6-minute video overview of legacy of Judson and how that connects to the m…

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Dear Friends,

I want to share with you this request from John Piper.

If you've been helped by our message and want to support our work, would you please consider making a donation before December 31? To date (12/30), we have received $493,635 of the $745,000 that we need in order to meet our end-of-year financial goal.

We love the work that God has called us to, and it's your partnership that enables it to happen. Please join us in earnest and expectant prayer that God would continue to powerfully change lives for His glory through the ministry of Desiring God.

Scott Anderson
Executive Director

(Watch the full-length video about the small beginnings of desiringGod.org)

Facebook surpassed one billion active users today. It’s an astounding figure — one seventh of the world’s total population. That’s almost 15%. It’s a number greater than the populations of North and South America combined. You could view the marking of this milestone in a couple of ways: as an obstruction, or as an opportunity. It could make you cringe, or it could make you dream of gospel possibilities.

You could fret the massive amounts of wasted time and self-absorption that flow through these channels. Or you could feel amazed at the potential for good, for connecting people for the sake of Jesus, for spreading biblical truth, for the glory of God, for redemption, for healing of br…

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India is mammoth — so big that North Americans don’t usually have the categories to appreciate population size and density like this. With the people of India now exceeding 1.2 billion, Hindi, the official language, has been rising quickly on our list of priorities for translation.

So it is with great excitement and gratitude to God that we announce the release of a version of our website in Hindi.

In Hindi, For Joy

The church in India is in a remarkable season of growth. In line with our mission and with the Lord's help, we want to serve these saints with our content. Desiring God exists to help people everywhere understand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in u…

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Update 6/30
We have received $329,258 of the $300,000 that we needed in order for us to close-out our fiscal year in the black and balance the budget. Thank you for your generous support! The Lord is good, and all of his paths are "steadfast love and faithfulness" (Psalm 25:10).

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Dear Friends,

Just a brief note of thanks to everyone who responded to Pastor John's ministry update last week — your prayers, notes of encouragement, and financial gifts are deeply appreciated. In His kindness, the Lord has provided $139,447.77 of the $300,000 needed in order for us to close-out our fiscal year in the black. This leaves us with $160,000 still needed to balance our budget for the year.

Th…

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Update 5/4: Reaching the Muslim World — On the Web

Our vision at Desiring God is increasingly global. If you've had the chance to read John Piper's blog post from last week, you might recall that one of the things he mentions is this highly encouraging statistic: in the last 12-months we've seen a 40% increase in Website visits from outside the United States.

For those who might be interested, here is a country-by-country ranking, and how it compares to historical data.

From April 25, 2010 to April 25, 2011, we had 2,848,264 visits from outside the United States

From April 25, 2011 to April 25, 2012, we had 4,063,757 visits from outside the United States

Most notably, we sa…

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We are excited to announce that the 25th Anniversary Edition of the book Desiring God is now available.

Who could have known what God's gracious intentions were 25 years ago when this volume first arrived for publication? Looking back, we have only praise and thanksgiving to God for how He has used it to encourage and equip the Church.

And as we look forward, it is our faith-filled prayer that God will glorify himself through the truths in this book, opening the eyes of millions around the world to seek Jesus Christ as their treasure and joy.

January 27, 1987—

Yesterday when I walked into the office there was a package in my box. . . . It was the first copy of DESIRING GOD.

I shu…

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As an event planner, I am often tempted to worry as I look toward upcoming conferences. Silly questions (that don't sound so silly in my head) come to mind and plague my heart:

• "Will people want to come? Will the conference be a blessing to them? Will the event be edifying and God-glorifying?"
• "Did we do enough promotion? What if no one finds out about it? What if the Google Ads don't work?"
• "What about all the things yet to be done? What if we can't get all the projects done on time?"
• "Will we meet budget? What if things end up costing more than we thought?"

And so I have to battle against the temptation to sin by casting my cares on the Lord through prayer and h…

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