October 2026
“Who gave you permission to become the person that you are today?”
— Bob Buford
Dear Friend,
I want to introduce you to a special friend and mentor who has impacted your life—although most of you have never met him. His name is Don Geiger.
I met Don when I was in seminary. I was young, passionate, insecure, and carrying some very big dreams in my heart. Don became one of those rare people who gave me permission to become the person God had made me to be.
Don was straightforward with me—sometimes very straightforward—but always encouraging. After we would meet, he would often turn to me and simply say,
“Chip, you’re a good man.” I think he knew how deeply I struggled to believe that.
I grew up in an alcoholic home with a father who loved me deeply but had great difficulty expressing it after the trauma of Iwo Jima in WWII. Somewhere along the way, I developed this nagging sense that I never quite measured up. Pride and ego became ways of covering the insecurity underneath.
Don saw through all of that. Despite pastoring a large church, he made time for me. He encouraged me, believed in me, and taught me along with a small group of fellow students.
Years later, when the Lord opened the door for me to lead a large church, I was afraid my motivation might be pride instead of God’s leading. Don looked me in the eye and said, in essence:
“Chip, this is what you were made to do. You’re not better than anyone else, but God has given you a unique combination of leadership and communication gifts. I believe in you.”
Sometimes one person believing in you can change the trajectory of your life.
Don is now 96, and this picture was taken last month. For the last 44 years, Don has been the kind of friend who reminds me, “Don’t get full of yourself. Guard your time with the Lord. Love your wife. Love your children and grandchildren. Keep first things first.”
Who has been a “Don Geiger” in your life? And perhaps an even more important question: Whose “Don Geiger” might you be right now?
This October, our teaching is centered around How to Lift Up Those You Love. As I teach through 1 Thessalonians, you will learn how God uses ordinary people like you and me to encourage, strengthen, mentor, and lift up the people He places around us.
We live in a world filled with loneliness. We have a generation that is battling extraordinary levels of anxiety, discouragement, and isolation. And one of God’s answers is you.
By the power of His Spirit and the grace He has placed within us, we first look up to Him—and then look out to the people around us.
Lifting someone up can mean different things based upon individual needs, such as giving him or her your time, asking a thoughtful question, providing a meal, a place to stay, or financial help.
Who do you have in your life that needs that right now. It may be that:
- Your son or daughter needs a word of encouragement.
- Your grandchild needs someone to listen.
- A young person desperately needs an adult to believe in them.
- Your close friend needs you to just show up.
- Or even a pastor, who looks confident on the outside but battles fear and insecurity on the inside, and desperately needs encouragement.
Sometimes “lifting up” someone is simply saying:
“I see something in you. I believe in you. God has a purpose for your life.” And the beautiful thing about encouragement is that it multiplies. Jesus’ goal was never simply addition—it was multiplication.
What Don invested in me has now been passed on to others. Later, men like Dick Sleeper believed God could use the teaching He had entrusted to me and helped put it on radio. Others believed in the ministry and traveled with me around the world, sometimes into difficult and dangerous places, to share God’s message of hope.
And now you are part of that multiplication.
When you listen to the Living on the Edge broadcast and the teaching helps you grow in your faith, you are seeing the fruit of the investment Don made in me. When you share what you’ve learned with others, you are increasing the impact. And when you give to Living on the Edge, you’re helping to share that same teaching with even more people, multiplying that impact even more.
It all began, in part, because someone chose to lift up a frightened, insecure young man and tell him: “I believe in you.”
So this month, I’d like to ask you to do three things.
First, listen to this month’s teaching—and then put it into practice. Ask God to show you one person you can intentionally lift up. Encourage them. Listen to them. Believe in them. Invest in them. Walk with them and a small group of their friends through my online mentoring series Daily Discipleship with Chip; or meet with them to study my book I Choose Love. We are committed to helping you disciple your children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors.
Second, please pray about becoming a financial partner with Living on the Edge.
If you currently give occasionally, would you ask the Lord whether becoming a monthly partner might be part of His plan for you?
You cannot imagine what a difference it makes when we know you are standing with us faithfully month after month. Your consistent partnership allows us to plan, produce, broadcast, disciple pastors, translate resources, and respond when God opens unexpected doors around the world.
And if you have never financially supported Living on the Edge, I simply ask you to pray: “Lord, would investing in this ministry be a wise use of some of what You have entrusted to me?”
The world is changing rapidly. People desperately need peace and hope. And God is moving powerfully—and we are seeing lives transformed here at home and around the world.
Third, take a moment today and thank God for the people who have lifted you up.
I hope you’ll thank Him for Don Geiger too. His investment in one young pastor ultimately became an investment in you—and in millions of people he will never meet this side of heaven.
Thank you for praying, giving, listening, and standing with us. It is a privilege to serve alongside you.
Deeply honored to partner with you,
Chip Ingram
Co-Founder, CEO & Teaching Pastor
Living on the Edge
P.S. Will you help multiply the discipleship investments of Don Geiger and so many others who listen to and support Living on the Edge by investing your financial resources in this ministry? Together, we are bringing hope to a world that needs it and helping people across the globe become Christians who truly live like Christians.
Your Gift Changes Lives!
Living on the Edge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1995, gifts to which are tax deductible as charitable contributions to the full extent permitted by law. Living on the Edge’s Tax ID Number is 46-0484695.
