Happy Birthday, Inasmuch!

Where were you ten years ago? What were you involved in that had the potential of impacting the Kingdom of God?

A small group—no more than 40 people—was assembled in the Beaver Creek Country Club, Knoxville, Tennessee dining room on January, 2007 for the purpose of launching the full-time ministry Operation Inasmuch, Inc.  While documents establishing the ministry officially with the IRS (501-c-3 status) and the state of Tennessee (charter) had already been filed, until January, 2007, the Inasmuch ministry as we know it today did not exist.

“There was excitement, for sure,” says David Crocker, Founder and only employee of Inasmuch at the time, “but there were more than a few questions for which only time would provide the answers. Will this work? Will churches want to do Inasmuch in sufficient numbers to make the ministry viable? Will Inasmuch succeed where other start-up non-profits have failed in large numbers? Is Inasmuch sustainable?”

The red states indicate states impacted by Operation Inasmuch as of December 2016.

Well, ten years into the journey, one would have to say that all the questions looming beneath the surface in 2007 have been answered resoundingly and convincingly in a positive way! Consider that churches in 24 states and 4 other countries have conducted Inasmuch events in these 10 years; . . . or that more than a few of those churches tell us Inasmuch has transformed them and, in some cases, their community; . . . or that a full menu of resources has been rolled out including extensions of the typical one-day event—Inasmuch United and Inasmuch LIFE.

“I was more than a little reluctant to launch the Inasmuch ministry,” says Crocker, “not because I doubted its merits or marketability to put it in business, but because I doubted myself. I had no experience in leading a non-profit so I just wasn’t sure I could do it. But God showed me in some very clear ways that He intended to use this ministry to help more and more of His people learn how to become the hands and feet of Jesus.  In late fall of 2006, two critical pieces ‘fell into place,’ i.e., God showed me He would provide everything we needed when we needed it. So, we stepped out in 2007 and have never looked back!”

No one should be surprised by how all this happened. God has a very long record of taking unlikely and untrained people to do Kingdom stuff. See Moses, David, and the disciples to mention a few. There is no way to explain what has taken place over these ten years without God’s leadership and provision! We humans often are much too quick to credit ourselves for accomplishments. But when it comes to Kingdom matters, if it happens, it is because God makes it happen.

The story of Operation Inasmuch is another story of God first giving this model of community ministry to the right church—Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, Fayetteville, NC–at the right time, then so arranging events as to give it wider exposure to thousands of congregations so His Church can get back to the compassion ministry Jesus modeled in the First Century.

What do the next 10 years hold for Inasmuch? We don’t know, BUT we DO know Who Does know and Who will shape those years and, furthermore, Who will provide whatever is needed to do what He calls us to do and go where He wants us to go.

Written by:
David Crocker

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