Annual Speed the Light Giving Tops $8 million

Speed the Light brought in more than $8.3 million for missions in 2014 — an increase of approximately $528,000 over the 2013 tally.

Speed the Light is a student-initiated ministry that assists missionaries across the United States and in more than 180 countries around the globe.

“There is a generation of students who see the value of coming alongside other people to help them accomplish their God-given dreams,” says Heath Adamson, senior director of Youth Ministries for the Assemblies of God. “Our students get to be a part of that — not receiving any of the credit, but just giving from generous hearts.”

Speed the Light funds provide essential transportation and creative communication equipment for missionary evangelism. These resources — which include modern transportation, radio, television, and equipment for mass evangelism — help missionaries fulfill the Great Commission.

“Transportation equipment includes boats, four-wheelers, off-road vehicles, and even a yak to go into the mountains of Tibet,” Adamson says.

Speed the Light’s multiyear campaign is “The Human Right to Know Jesus.” Adamson says Christians should remember that the opportunity for a person to encounter Christ is the most important human right of all.

“The greatest injustice in all the earth is for someone to live and die without knowing Jesus,” Adamson says. “Reaching people with the message of the gospel is what the AG was passionate about 100 years ago when we came together as a Movement, and it’s what Speed the Light is all about today.”

Minnesota was the top fundraising state for Speed the Light in 2014, bringing in an astounding $902,758 — a 50 percent increase from the previous year.

Adamson says ministries such as Speed the Light in the National Youth Department and Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge in the Children’s Ministries Agency instill in young people the importance of supporting those who preach the gospel around the world.

“Speed the Light and BGMC and all our AG missions programs work together,” Adamson says. “There is a piece of our heart reserved for where we invest our treasure. When our students are given the opportunity to invest their finances into something like God’s mission, it’s powerful. We want our teenagers, children, and adults to be accused of generosity.”

Christina Quick

Christina Quick is a former Pentecostal Evangel staff writer who attends James River Church (Assemblies of God) in Ozark, Missouri.