History of LIFE

Reminding the children of Israel of how they were led when God brought them out of captivity in Egypt, Moses said, "(God) goes before you on {your} way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go" (Deuteronomy 1:33).

They dared not move until the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire moved. And then they moved only in the direction and to the place that the cloud or the fire led them.

Throughout the course of his ministry, James Robison has allowed himself to be led in exactly the same way. He has sought God's direction and, with the Holy Spirit lighting his path, has followed the Lord's leading to the best of his understanding.

As a result, the course of his ministry resembles the path drawn by the Israelites as they followed the Lord in the wilderness and the Promised Land eons ago: Instead of a straight-line progression from point to point in a single direction, it is a winding path fraught with unexpected, sometimes unexplainable twists and turns.

To some, this kaleidoscopic effect is confusing. People have sometimes asked: "Why don't you select one thing to do and stick with it?" Or even: "Do you really know what God is leading you to do?"

Through the years, James' response to such criticism has evolved as his understanding of the Christian life has grown. He has come to see that, in charting the life history of a believer, God does not lead randomly, as the winding pathway might suggest. He uses situations, circumstances and opportunities—as well as instructions from within—to move the life in the direction He wants it to go, somewhat in the way that terrain causes a river to flow.

James alludes often to the words Jesus spoke in John 7:38: "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

He believes strongly that following the call of God is like immersing yourself in a river of life. That river carries you in different direction, in different ways, at different times. But the purpose of that flow is always to deliver a river of life to those who are dying of spiritual thirst.

While still in his teens, James heard God's call into an evangelistic ministry. He followed the call, and God blessed that ministry with incredible success. A decade of citywide crusades brought hundreds of thousands of people to Christ.

Many people who knew James and his ministry thought crusade evangelism would be his lifelong calling. But, in time, God led him to ministry on television.

James had no desire to become a "television evangelist," and at first he questioned whether he was really hearing God correctly. Eventually, however, the Spirit—with the help of loved and respected friends, including the Rev. Billy Graham—convinced James that television should be his next stage in ministry.

When it began in 1971, the television ministry featured James' preaching and teaching. He remained, in effect, a "standup preacher," though his pulpit had changed. God richly blessed the television programs, just as he had the stadium crusades, and used them to reach millions of people with the Gospel.

Through a weekly television program and numerous prime-time specials, James preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ in homes across the United States.

But up the pathway a bit, God was awaiting James with more unexpected direction changes.

One major new leading came in the mid-'80s, when the Lord began to give James an increased awareness of needs beyond America's borders. The Spirit first called him to Haiti, then to Mexico. He then took him to Africa, Romania, China and other places. Everywhere he turned, he saw incredible suffering—precious children dying of hunger and disease, adults too starved and sick to help them.

Through these scenes, God deepened James' understanding of the admonition: "Let us not love with word or with tongue [only], but in deed and truth (1 John 3:18.) He realized that hungry people are far more likely to open their hearts to news of a merciful God after those bearing the message have demonstrated His love by filling their empty stomachs. Guided by that insight, LIFE began combining humanitarian assistance for physical needs with the verbal sharing of the gospel. 

To better represent this changed scope and direction, the ministry name was changed from James Robison Evangelistic Association to LIFE Outreach International.

In the mid-'90s, God used James' increasing concern for physical, emotional and social problems to issue him yet another unexpected calling.

"God told me to sit down," James said, in explaining God's new instructions. He felt he should sit down on the television set, like a talk show host, and speak conversationally to the viewing audience like a father would to his family in a living room setting.

Again, he questioned his hearing and resisted the call at first. He did not think he could minister effectively from a seated position. But he gave it a try, and God showed him he could be more effective sitting down than standing up in sharing life-changing spiritual truth with television viewers unaccustomed to watching religious television -- the very people James' heart most wanted to reach.

Consequently, the television program LIFE TODAY, adopted the interactive format it now uses. Taped before a live audience, it features James and Betty seated on a family-room set and chatting conversationally with inspirational guests and people in the audience. Topics of their discussions run the gamut of the real problems ordinary people face in everyday life. Their insights offer practical, biblically sound solutions that transform lives, heal marriages, restore families and draw people to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

God has blessed the new television approach with supernatural spiritual results, rapidly expanding audiences and incredible favor from the broadcast industry. LIFE TODAY can now be seen in more than 100 million homes across North America, Australia and Europe.

The winding course of God's calling on James' life is evident not only in the broader pattern of things, but also in LIFE's year-by-year, month-by-month and day-by-day operations.

At one point, the ministry's major emphasis may be on Africa. A short time later, it may be on Romania, China or new crisis area. Not only does the locale of ministry emphasis often change, but also the form and duration. Sometimes the humanitarian assistance given along with the gospel may be in the form of emergency relief items. Sometimes it may be in the form of seed, tools, education or training. Some projects may be short-term, others long-term.

God directs the emphasis according to the needs he brings to LIFE's attention and the provision He makes, through the prayers and support of caring people, for LIFE to respond.

God has led LIFE Outreach to see its role as that of "lampstand." Rather than going out to be "the light of the world" with its own organization, personnel and resources, LIFE finds and supports reputable, effective missionaries to partner with in ministry efforts. These men and women, already established and proven, are then supported by LIFE so that they can serve as "the light," save more lives and draw more souls to Christ.

The pattern is always to follow God's guidance. Whether in partnership for others or working alone, LIFE's mission is to help shine the light of God's truth to those who are in darkness, to help them become "lights" in their own right, and to lift them from the valley to the hilltop where they can be seen by the whole world.