BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

“I sent a demo tape to Kenneth Copeland Ministries offering to give my voice-overs,” Dick explains. “For a year they didn’t take me up on my offer, but God honored the seed anyway. That year I went from 12 radio stations to 112!” In the fall of 1991, Dick began doing voice-overs for KCM’s television and radio ministry—free. “The value of one commercial that airs worldwide is $20,000,” Dick explains. “I’ve done hundreds of these for the Copelands. They offered to pay me, but I didn’t want to be paid. I wanted to give my services to them and believe God for a hundredfold return. I knew that would be more profitable!” Word-Based Confessions As the months passed, Dick and Mary each continued to spend 30 minutes a day confessing scripture: “As we give, our gifts are measured back to us in a full and overflowing measure, pressed down and shaken together to make room for more—and running over!” they’d say. “The measure we use to give is the measure used to measure back to us. We look for ways to give and we find them. “We decide for ourselves what we can give cheerfully, and we are not forced. Because God prizes cheerful givers, He is able to make it up to us by giving us all we need and more so that we have enough for ourselves and plenty to give others.” As time went by, the Holy Spirit prompted them to add to or change certain confessions. For example, instead of simply saying they had all things in abundance, He instructed them to say that they have abundantly increasing, continuously flowing supply. “We added that to all our confessions,” Mary says. “We confess abundantly increasing, continuously flowing, prosperous weekly tithe...abundantly increasing, continuously flowing, weekly offering...weekly income, financial assets, collections, financial resources, relationships, and health and wisdom. We also confess that we live totally and completely debt free in all things and in every way. We pay cash up front for everything we buy.” In 1993, those confessions were put to the test. Dick moved his business to Los Angeles—the home of 50,000 actors, 4,000 of whom specialize in voice-overs. A voice-over actor who gets any job with an agent the first year is considered very talented. Yet Dick got work the first week—and within a month, he was working with the Walt Disney Company. By the end of 1993, Dick’s business was bringing in as much as $25,000 a month. Dick soon realized, however, that despite his financial success, he still had to stay on his spiritual toes. “In 1994, I hit a brick wall,” he says. “My income had dropped to a fraction of what it had been in 1993. I was so discouraged, I considered moving back to Minneapolis.” Instead, Dick fervently sought the Lord. What he found out surprised him. The Lord revealed to him that his confessions had become so routine that he’d unintentionally stopped reverencing the Word. 'Wait on Me,' the Holy Spirit cautioned. 'Stop confessing completely unless I tell you what to say.' Dick obeyed and made adjustments as the Lord directed. Then, just a few months later, he got the opportunity of a lifetime—he auditioned to become the voice of Fox football. Once again, the Holy Spirit spoke to Dick’s heart. It’s yours! He said. Dick called Mary and asked for her agreement. Today, Dick is the voice of sports for Fox television. That one contract pays him more per month than he made his first two years in radio as a disc jockey. “Last year I looked at my tax returns,” Dick says. “I gave more in tithes and offerings than I made in radio in 1989.” What about Mary? She too is standing in her dream. After working full time for two and a half years helping Dick at no salary (“Plant it as seed in your ministry!” Dick urged), the tables have turned. Now, Dick sows his time and talent as producer of Mary’s radio ministry, “The Practical World of Faith.” Mary believes that living by faith is the most practical thing in the world. She is reminded daily of that fact. It isn’t so much the big things that make her pause: their home in Southern California, healthy bank statements, the shiny new sports car they bought with cash. It’s not even so much the flashing red light that signals she’s recording her next radio show. Certainly, those things are nice. But what really matters to Mary is the One who provided them. The One who was there for her at the midnight hour. The God of Abraham who gave her seed to sow...and then supplied the power to make it grow. Mary thinks of Him each time she sees a penny on the ground. Mary doesn’t pick up pennies anymore. Now she leaves them for someone else who may need that seed to plant for himself. V 12 : BVOV

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