AN OPEN LETTER TO SEVEN PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE POWER TO HELP
Bill Gates. Mark Zuckerberg. Oprah Winfrey. Mark Cuban. David Rubenstein. Phil Knight. Elon Musk.
I am not asking you to make me famous. I am asking you to help these books reach people who need them.
Dear Mr. Gates, Mr. Zuckerberg, Ms. Winfrey, Mr. Cuban, Mr. Rubenstein, Mr. Knight, and Mr. Musk:
You do not know me.
There is no particular reason you should.
My name is James Langston. I am a retired United States Navy veteran, pastor, missionary, and author.
I am writing this open letter because each of you possesses something that very few people in this world possess at the level you do:
Reach.
Influence.
Resources.
Connections.
Platforms capable of putting an idea before millions of people.
And I would like to ask you to prayerfully consider using some small portion of that reach to help me place three books before people who desperately need their messages.
I am not asking you to make me wealthy.
I am not asking you to make me famous.
I am not asking for a mansion, private jet, television show, or seat at anyone's table.
I am asking you to help me reach people.
THREE BOOKS. THREE HUMAN CRISES.
These three books deal with very different subjects, but they share something important:
They are about human beings.
People who hurt.
People who are exploited.
People whose lives can be profoundly affected by decisions made by those possessing power, wealth, authority, and influence.
1. YOU'RE HURTING. I UNDERSTAND. BUT SUICIDE IS NOT THE ANSWER.
Hope, Healing, and the God Who Never Stopped Loving You
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HL5VQ1FB
This book was written for hurting people.
For the teenager who believes tomorrow is not worth seeing.
For the veteran who survived the battlefield but is struggling with another war inside.
For the husband or wife quietly falling apart.
For the young person being bullied.
For the person overwhelmed by grief, trauma, loneliness, failure, depression, or despair.
For the person sitting alone somewhere tonight thinking:
“Nobody would care if I disappeared.”
I care.
And I want that person to live.
This book cannot solve every problem.
No book can.
But sometimes a few words arriving at precisely the right moment can cause someone to reconsider one irreversible decision.
What would happen if this book could reach thousands—or millions—of hurting people?
What if one person decided:
“Maybe I'll stay another day.”
That alone would make writing it worthwhile.
2. THE FACES BEHIND POWER
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3FWBNHV
Power fascinates us.
Presidents.
Business leaders.
Billionaires.
Military commanders.
Political leaders.
Corporate executives.
Influencers.
People whose decisions affect millions of others.
But behind every title is a human being.
Behind every institution are people making decisions.
Behind every display of power are choices, consequences, ambitions, failures, responsibilities, and ultimately accountability.
This book asks readers to look beyond titles, offices, wealth, celebrity, and public image and consider the human faces behind power.
Power itself is not the final question.
What we do with power is.
Perhaps that question is particularly appropriate in an open letter addressed to seven extraordinarily influential people.
Every person receiving this letter understands influence.
You have seen what happens when an idea receives resources.
You know what happens when the right people become interested in solving a problem.
You understand how quickly something can move when someone with influence decides:
“This matters.”
That brings me to the third book.
3. HUMAN TRAFFICKING EXPOSED
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H7RSF6KQ
Human trafficking is not simply a statistic.
It has a face.
A child.
A daughter.
A son.
A mother.
A frightened young woman.
A vulnerable young man.
A migrant.
A runaway.
Someone promised employment.
Someone deceived.
Someone threatened.
Someone sold.
Someone wondering whether anybody knows—or cares—that they exist.
Behind the numbers are human beings.
That is why I wrote this book.
Awareness alone will not end human trafficking.
But silence certainly will not end it either.
People must recognize exploitation.
Parents must understand the danger.
Young people must recognize grooming and deception.
Communities must become informed.
Victims and survivors must know that their lives have value.
And people with resources and influence can help amplify that message.
WHY AM I WRITING TO YOU?
Because I can write.
I can preach.
I can teach.
I can travel.
I can conduct missionary work.
I can publish books.
I can speak to the people God places before me.
But there are limitations to how far one person's voice can travel.
You understand reach on a completely different scale.
A recommendation from you can introduce something to millions.
A philanthropic initiative can mobilize organizations.
A social-media post can cross continents within hours.
A conversation can introduce an idea to people capable of doing something about it.
And sometimes helping does not require creating another billion-dollar initiative.
Sometimes it begins simply by saying:
“Take a look at this.”
HERE IS WHAT I AM ASKING
Would you consider reading one of these books?
Would you consider having someone on your staff examine them?
Would you consider purchasing copies for organizations, schools, churches, veterans, community programs, shelters, ministries, libraries, counselors, outreach organizations, or people who might benefit from them?
Would you consider sharing one of them?
Would you consider helping us place these messages into communities where I could never distribute them alone?
And if after examining them you conclude that they are not something you can support, I will respect that decision.
But I am asking you to look.
That costs little more than time.
THIS IS BIGGER THAN SELLING BOOKS
I want to make something unmistakably clear.
This is not primarily about book sales.
It is about what the books can do after someone opens them.
A book sitting in a warehouse changes nothing.
A book sitting unnoticed online changes nothing.
But put the right book into the hands of the right person at the right moment—
and something can happen.
Someone can recognize the warning signs of trafficking.
Someone can begin thinking differently about leadership and responsibility.
Someone drowning in despair can discover another reason to live.
That is impact.
MR. GATES...
You have spent years directing enormous resources toward problems affecting human lives around the world.
What might happen if this message reached people who currently believe their lives have no value?
MR. ZUCKERBERG...
You helped build technology capable of connecting billions of human beings.
What might happen if some of those connections carried a message of hope to someone who feels completely alone?
MS. WINFREY...
Books and human stories have long been part of your public work.
You understand something powerful:
Stories can reach places statistics cannot.
MR. CUBAN...
Entrepreneurs understand leverage.
A relatively small action at the right moment can create consequences far larger than the original investment.
Perhaps the same principle can apply to helping people.
MR. RUBENSTEIN...
Your public life has included philanthropy as well as business, history, and civic institutions.
You understand the idea of giving something back.
Sometimes the greatest return on an investment cannot be measured in dollars.
MR. KNIGHT...
You helped build an idea into something recognized throughout the world.
You understand perseverance, competition, setbacks, and continuing when success is far from guaranteed.
There are people today fighting for something far more fundamental:
the will to keep living.
MR. MUSK...
You frequently speak in terms of enormous problems, ambitious ideas, technology, humanity, and the future.
But humanity's future ultimately comes down to individual human beings.
Every life we save remains part of that future.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE THE WHOLE WORLD TODAY
None of you can solve every problem.
Neither can I.
No government can.
No ministry can.
No organization can.
No billionaire can.
But perhaps that is the wrong standard.
Maybe the question isn't:
“Can I change the world?”
Maybe the question is:
“Can I change somebody's world?”
One frightened child.
One trafficking victim.
One veteran.
One teenager.
One grieving parent.
One lonely college student.
One person standing dangerously close to giving up.
One life.
Then another.
Then another.
That is how enormous problems eventually become personal.
HELP ME PUT THESE BOOKS WHERE THEY CAN DO SOME GOOD
Bill Gates.
Mark Zuckerberg.
Oprah Winfrey.
Mark Cuban.
David Rubenstein.
Phil Knight.
Elon Musk.
You have resources I do not have.
You have platforms I do not have.
You have connections I do not have.
You have the ability to open doors I cannot open.
But I have something too.
A message.
Actually, three of them.
One says:
YOUR LIFE IS WORTH SAVING.
Another asks:
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE POWER YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN?
And another declares:
HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT FOR SALE.
Those messages deserve to travel farther than I can carry them alone.
So I am asking:
Will you help carry them?
Not for me.
For them.
For the person whose name we may never know.
For the person who may never know that seven influential people helped put a book into their hands.
For the person who may someday be able to say:
“That message reached me when I needed it.”
If that happens even once, our efforts will have been worth it.
Respectfully,
James Langston
Author • Pastor • Missionary • Retired U.S. Navy Veteran
Founder/Senior Pastor
Pilgrim Outreach Ministries International
THE THREE BOOKS
📕 You're Hurting. I Understand. But Suicide Is Not the Answer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HL5VQ1FB
📘 The Faces Behind Power
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3FWBNHV
📗 Human Trafficking Exposed
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H7RSF6KQ
HELP US HELP THEM—ONE SOUL AT A TIME.
Pilgrim Outreach Ministries International — Your Feet to the Nations
We are your eyes, ears, mouths, and feet in Asia.
🌎 Ministry: pomitaly.homestead.com
📚 Bookstore: thewilltosucceed.homestead.com
📰 Ministry Blog: joybells49.blogspot.com
100% of our book royalties support our missionary and outreach efforts.
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