Influence with God, influence with others

Richard Blackaby July 24, 2025

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I had a doubly awesome experience this week. I was at Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville to discuss writing the sequel to the Christian classic Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God.That would have been amazing enough, but my two sons, Mike and Daniel, were there with me and will be co-authors on the project.

The 35^th anniversary of the release of Experiencing Godis at the end of October. Thirty-five years later, that material continues to bless countless people and churches. I was reminded this week of when Dad's study first came out. Now that it's famous, people forget how surprising and impactful it was when it first launched.

The line of curriculum Experiencing Godbelonged to had a very small distribution. A successful study would sell 5,000 copies. No one had heard of my dad at the time, as he had been serving for almost 30 years among a small group of churches in Canada. The book was scheduled to be released in July of 1990, but it was delayed until November. In mid-July, Ridgecrest Conference Center outside of Asheville, NC, was hosting "Jericho Week," a week focused on missions. Home missionaries attended and participated in various tracks of training. Student ministers, chaplains, and Directors of Missions all had a pre-assigned schedule. The conference center wanted to offer some electives for spouses and those who were not obligated to attend a set program. They invited me to teach a week-long seminar on the new study Experiencing God.

The night before I was scheduled to teach the first session, I went to find my seminar room. It was on the second floor of a classroom building. There were only six chairs in the room. Clearly, they were not expecting a record crowd! But the next day, the classroom was packed. People were hauling in chairs from other classrooms. Once there was no room for any more chairs, people started sitting on the floor. Then people opened the windows and started listening from the hallway. Something unusual was happening! The book was not scheduled to be released for several more months. Few people had heard of my father. But there was obviously a hunger in people's hearts to experience God. An administrator was notified and rushed over. She announced that we were creating a fire hazard and were being moved to the main auditorium. Once we assembled, there were more than 250 people in my seminar!

Because I knew my dad so well and had watched God use him mightily, I was not surprised by what happened. But that was the first time I witnessed the power of the Experiencing Godstudy.My dad wasn't present to teach the material, but crowds came anyway.

I have thought much about the phenomenon of Experiencing Godand how God used my father so mightily through the years, and I've made several observations.

First, my father was a very ordinary person with his fair share of flaws. But those shortcomings made what God did through him all the more amazing. With my father, you were never distracted by his unusual talent or world-class leadership. It was clear that the one quality that set him apart from his peers was his absolute devotion to his Lord.

Second, Dad was faithful in a little.He didn't write Experiencing God until he was 55 years old. He spent years in obscurity before God chose to lift him onto a more prominent platform.

Third, my father ministered out of the overflow of his walk with God. Every time I saw him sitting in his chair in the living room or at his desk, he had his Bible and a notepad handy. He was constantly reading Scripture and processing what God said. That was the secret to his ministerial success. He always had something deep and profound to share. Everyone knew that if they invited my father to speak, he would share thoughts he had recently received from God himself.

My father has been gone for more than a year now, but his legacy continues. His oldest son and two oldest grandchildren are embarking on writing the sequel to Experiencing God.We feel the weight of that responsibility. I certainly don't feel like I am the man of God my father was, but he provided a legacy that has benefited me greatly. He gave me a spiritual leg up that has granted me wisdom and opportunities I did not deserve. And now I get to work with my two sons as we talk through truths and biblical insights I first learned and witnessed in my father's life.

At a time when many people want to be an "influencer" on social media, a speaker, or an author, I realize that the greatest way to be a person of spiritual influence is to have a deep, vibrant, growing walk with God. That opportunity is available to anyone who wants it badly enough. I am praying that God will raise up a new generation of men and women that God is pleased to use mightily to accomplish his purposes. May it be so.

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Richard Blackaby is the president of Blackaby Ministries International and lives in Georgia. He travels internationally speaking on spiritual leadership in the home, church, and marketplace as well as on spiritual awakening, experiencing God, and the Christian life. Richard regularly ministers to Christian CEOs and business leaders. He has written or co-authored 33 books . This article was first published on RichardBlackaby.com. Used with permission from Blackaby Ministries International. Learn More »

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