2008 is DVC’s 25th Anniversary. As we reflect on the last quarter of a century, I’m reminded of all the times in which God has proven Himself faithful in amazing ways. I’ll be sharing some of these stories with you throughout the year. This is one of my favorites.

In the early 1990s, a lot of our video production equipment was old, but we made the most of what we had. When something broke, we’d repair it and keep going. In 1995, we were recording a verse-by-verse Bible study on Titus when we had a major equipment breakdown. First the camera wasn’t working right, and then the VCRs stopped working. This time, it couldn’t be repaired. It was completely worn out. DVC didn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars for new cameras and VCRs. I remember grumbling to the Lord: “How can we make videos without equipment?”

We had heard about a private foundation that sometimes gave money to Christian ministries working with the Deaf. But it was a “closed” foundation. They didn’t accept grant applications from anyone they didn’t know. Before we could send in a request for money, we needed a way to contact the people inside the foundation. We started praying about this foundation by name, asking God to connect us with someone who could help get us “into” their closed doors.

At that time, I was still working as a freelance camera operator for a local Christian television station. One Monday morning, they called me to work in their studio in Chicago. I arrived right on time and headed for the studio. Just as I began to pull open the door to the studio, a group of people who were leaving started pushing the door from the other side. With me on one side and them on the other, the door flew open and we all crashed into each other. After laughing about the situation, we introduced ourselves. One of those people turned out to be the chairman-of-the-board for that private, “closed” foundation, who had traveled from a thousand miles away to Chicago, to that studio, for one hour only. After I told them about DVC, I was invited to make an application to the foundation. Thanks to that meeting and that foundation, we were able to buy all new cameras and equipment the following year. God had literally “opened the door” for us.

As the work of DVC grows, we’re contacting more foundations and making more grant applications than ever. This month we are asking you to pray specifically about those applications and the private foundations who will receive them. Pray that God will touch the leaders of these foundations and that they will give generously to Dr. Wonder’s Workshop, the DVC Lending Library and other projects for which DVC needs funding.